LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Accession  Class 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL 
ORGANIZATION. 


A  COMPARATIVE  STUDY  CHIEFLY   BASED   ON 

THE:  SYSTEMS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

ENGLAND,  GERMANY  AND  FRANCE. 


BY 

CHARLES  HERBERT  THURBER. 


THESIS  SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACUI/TY  OF  Cl,ARK  UNIVERSITY 
IN  PARTIAL,  FULFILMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS   FOR  THE   DEGREE 

OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY, 
AND  ACCEPTED  ON  THE  RECOMMENDATION  OF 

G.  STANLEY  HALL. 


PRESS  OF  OLIVER  B.  WOOD, 
WORCESTER,  MASS. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

I.    INTRODUCTORY  NOTE, 5 

II.    THE  SCHOOL  AS  A  SOCIAL,  INSTITUTION,         ...  7 

III.  THE  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT  AND  THE  SCHOOL,    .        .  10 

IV.  THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  CENTRALIZATION,         .  14 
V.    THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  DECENTRALIZATION,  18 

VI.    PRINCIPLES  UNDERLYING  THE  COMMON  SCHOOLS,         .  23 

VII.    SOME  SPECIAL  PROBLEMS  OF  THE  COMMON  SCHOOLS,  30 

VIII.    SECONDARY  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION,       ....  33 

IX.    DIFFERENTIATION  IN  THE  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS,           .  38 

X.    PRIVATE  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS,       .        .        .        .        .  51 

XI.    PRINCIPLES  OF  ORGANIZATION  OF  HIGHER  EDUCATION,  54 

XII.    THE   ARTICULATION   OF   THE    SECONDARY   WITH   THE 

HIGHER  SCHOOLS, 58 

XIII.  FINAL  CONSIDERATIONS, 66 

XIV.  BIBLIOGRAPHY .71 


96757 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

A   COMPARATIVE  STUDY   CHIEFLY   BASED    ON   THE 

SYSTEMS   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES,    ENGLAND, 

GERMANY,  AND  FRANCE. 


By  CHARGES  HERBERT  THURBER. 


I. 
INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

There  is  a  mass  of  descriptive  and  statistical  material  about 
the  great  school  systems  of  modern  culture  states,  the  descrip- 
tions being  generally  rather  hard  of  comprehension  for  the  un- 
initiated reader,  the  statistics  meaning  anything  or  nothing 
according  to  the  methodology  and  teleology  of  their  manip- 
ulation. So  far  as  the  mathematics  and  history  of  education 
have  been  laid  under  tribute  for  this  study  the  best  available 
sources  have  been  employed. 

Here  and  there  we  have  in  pedagogical  literature  refer- 
ences to  the  influence  of  the  pedagogical  development  of  one 
historical  nation  upon  another,  often,  too,  something  in  the 
nature  of  a  comparison  of  this  national  system  with  that  or  the 
other.  For  the  most  part  these  references  may  be  assigned  to 
two,  and  only  two,  sources,  having  also  two  quite  distinct  pur- 
poses. The  first  of  these  is  the  genial  enthusiasm  of  some 
youthful  pedagogical  cosmopolite  who  having  made,  generally 
in  Germany,  the  discovery  for  which  the  world  had  long  been 
waiting,  of  a  more  perfect,  nay  the  only  perfect  pedagogical 
revelation,  holds  up  the  foreign  model  before  the  eyes  of  his 
countrymen  with  much  the  same  spirit  as  that  with  which  the 
Crusader  pressed  the  cross  upon  the  attention  of  the  Turk.1 
To  a  more  or  less  fanatical  Chauvinism  we  owe  the  other  com- 
mon class  of  allusions  to  foreign  schools  which  are  made  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  how  immeasurably  inferior  they  are  to  the 
native  product.  Between  the  Scylla  of  imitation  and  the  Cha- 

1  Germans  make  similar  discoveries.  Note  the  remark  in  Deutsche 
Zeit.  f.  Aus  Unterrichtswesen,  6,  III,  p.  223.  "  We  have  ceased  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  school  nation  par  excellence  ....  the  staff  of  lead- 
ership in  education  is  believed  to  have  gone  over  to  France  and  North 
America." 


6  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

rybdis  of  execration  there  is  a  narrow  channel, — few  there  be 
that  find  it — in  which  the  aim  is  purely  scientific. 

I  am  far  from  denying  that  it  is  sometimes  a  good  thing  to 
have  our  sluggish  self-satisfaction  roiled  by  the  slipping  in  of  a 
foreign  model;  if  another  nation  has  anything  good  we  ought 
to  know  it,  seldom,  however,  to  adopt  it  unconditionally.  Nor 
is  it  bad  practice  occasionally  to  execrate  what  is  inferior  to 
our  own  and  to  take  heart  of  hope,  seeing  what  we  have 
achieved.  But  the  aim  of  this  brief  study  is  somewhat  different 
from  either  of  those  mentioned.  No  new  descriptions  will  be 
attempted,  no  novel  statistics  have  been  collected,  no  oracular 
judgments  are  pronounced  on  any  system  or  systems  as  a  whole. 
The  point  of  view  is  this:  There  are  certain  problems  set  for 
every  people  that  undertakes  to  deal  with  school  organization. 
There  have  been  various  solutions  worked  out  for  these  prob- 
lems, chiefly  in  the  nineteenth  century,  by  different  nations, 
each  operating  in  its  own  historic  spirit  and  environment. 
The  answers  obtained  may  or  may  not  agree,  but  our  view 
.will  be  widened  by  seeing  more  than  one  solution. 

Moreover,  such  a  study,  dealing  as  it  does  with  fundamental 
principles,  should  foster  the  acquisition  of  a  philosophical  at- 
titude toward  that  wide  field  of  interest  covered  by  the  term 
"  organization  of  education. "  Lewes  says,  "  every  science  has 
its  metaphysic. ' '  If  school  organization  were  now  a  science 
this  paper  might  be  considered  an  essay  in  the  formula- 
tion of  the  metaphysic  of  school  organization.  Perhaps,  too, 
we  shall  see  more  clearly  that  education,  as  a  system,  is  a  de- 
velopment, a  product  of  the  evolution  of  society,  and  that  if 
the  form  we  have  seems  not  quite  to  fit  our  highest  concep- 
tions, the  way  to  better  it  is  not  by  bartering  what  we  have 
for  what  some  one  else  has,  nor  by  building  a  lean-to  against 
our  present  structure.  Further  study  might  well  be  given  to 
the  basal  problem  for  each  country:  how  has  the  existing  con- 
dition— system  or  lack  of  it — been  developed  out  of  the  co- 
operations and  antagonisms  of  universal  principles  and  national 
peculiarities  ? 

The  work  might  easily  be  more  comprehensive;  the  field  is 
not  all  covered,  not  to  say  exhausted.  But  the  aim  has  been 
to  illustrate  a  method  and  spirit  in  pedagogical  study,  rather 
than  to  leave  no  stone  unturned,  no  corner  unillumined.  In- 
teresting as  is  the  historical  side  of  the  subject,  adorned  with 
such  great  names  as  Plato  and  Comenius,  Loyola  and  Luther, 
it  has  been  left  almost  untouched,  for  the  purpose  here  is  not 
to  give  a  history  of  school  organization  theory,  but  rather  to 
sketch  some  of  the  fundamental  principles  which  are  now 
vitally  operative  in  the  chief  educational  states  of  the  world. 


THE   PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  7 

II. 

THE  SCHOOL  AS  A  SOCIAL  INSTITUTION. 

The  organization  of  education  is  essentially  as  modern  as  the 
applications  of  electricity  or  the  germ  theory  of  diseases.  Some- 
thing that  we  call  education  has  always  existed  in  one  form  or 
another.  In  its  various  stages  it  has  been,  first  of  all,  unpre- 
meditated and  unconscious,  consisting  of  mere  imitation  of 
leaders,  and  the  handing  down  of  tradition;  this  stage  has  been 
followed  by  a  conscious  effort  to  pass  on  the  best  possessions  of 
one  generation  to  the  next;  finally  has  come  the  stage  of  con- 
scious organized  effort  for  the  attainment  of  definite  results. 
The  second,  and  even  the  third,  of  these  stages  has  been 
attained  by  various  historical  peoples. 

The  education  of  the  past  was  only  for  a  favored  few  or  for 
some  special  class.  The  formal  education  of  China  was  for 
men;  of  Egypt  and  India  for  a  favored  caste;  of  Greece,  and  to  a 
large  extent  of  Rome,  only  for  the  men  of  an  aristocratic  class. 
In  the  middle  ages  formal  education  was  confined  almost  ex- 
clusively to  candidates  for  the  priesthood,  and  only  since  the 
reformation  has  the  idea  been  abroad  in  the  world  that  educa- 
tion was  a  good  thing  for  everybody.  The  idea  that  it  was  a 
good  thing  preceded  far  the  idea  that  it  was  a  necessary  thing. 
In  all  these  stages  of  education  private  initiative  or  church  in- 
itiative was  exclusively  relied  upon  for  the  founding  of  the 
schools.  The  state  did  indeed  occasionally  step  in,  but  only  to 
a  very  limited  extent.  There  was,  speaking  in  general  terms, 
no  education  provided  by  the  state  at  the  state  expense  until 
within  the  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  While  education 
was  thus  narrow  in  its  scope,  limited  in  the  number  to  whom 
it  applied,  and  inconsiderable  in  its  material  relations,  there 
was  no  field  for  organization.  The  phenomenon  of  the  develop- 
ment of  an  elaborate  and  complicated  machinery  to  perform  a 
simple  and  relatively  unimportant  task  is  not  often  met  with  in 
the  history  of  social  and  political  development. 

The  greatest  developments  in  education  took  place  during 
the  nineteenth  century.  In  observing  the  workings  of  contem- 
porary school  administration  there  are  many  things  that  give 
us  pause,  many  acts  of  injustice,  much  ill-directed  effort,  much 
working  at  cross-purposes,  much  money  unwisely  spent.  But 
do  we  find  absolute  perfection  in  church  administration,  for  ex- 
ample, which  has  been  developing  for  about  nineteen  times  as 
long  as  school  administration;  or  do  we  find  a  millennial  com- 
pleteness and  beauty  in  our  political  organization  and  adminis- 
tration which  has  been  in  process  of  evolution  for  a  much 
longer  period  ?  And  if  perfection  is  not  found  in  these  fields  to 
which  the  human  intellect  devoted  its  attention  almost  exclusively 


8  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

through  so  many  centuries,  should  we  despair  if  we  do  not  find 
perfection  in  this  newest  field  of  organization  and  administra- 
tion ?  It  has  been  found  true,  also,  that  the  most  perfect 
schemes,  theoretically,  that  have  been  propounded  and  even 
adopted  in  the  field  of  education  have  not  always  worked  to 
the  best  advantage.  Absolute  perfection  does,  indeed,  seem  to 
be  alien  to  the  human  mind. 

The  great  achievements  of  education  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury may  be  summarized  in  three  words:  instruction  has  been 
made  first,  free;  second,  compulsory;  and  third,  lay.  It  has 
been  taken  out  of  the  exclusive  control  of  the  clergy,  and  it 
has  been  made  open  to  all  without  regard  to  race,  or  sex,  or 
sect,  and  it  has  been  made  compulsory  upon  all  children  up 
to  a  certain  age.  These  three  steps  in  progress,  steps  which 
have  been  taken  substantially  by  all  the  great  culture  nations 
of  the  world,  have  lifted  the  school  within  the  present  century 
to  the  rank  of  the  greatest  of  human  institutions  except  gov- 
ernment itself.  The  school  is  the  only  institution  except  gov- 
ernment that  reaches  and  influences  every  individual  in  the 
state.  In  spite  of  the  occasional  exhortations  of  eloquent  en- 
thusiasts, we  do  not,  as  a  whole,  sufficiently  appreciate  the 
magnitude  of  the  school  as  a  human  institution.  It  is  fairly 
safe  to  say  that  there  is  invested  in  school  buildings  and  ap- 
paratus more  capital  than  is  employed  in  any  single  field  of 
manufacturing,  and  it  is  quite  true  that  the  annual  expenses  of 
running  the  schools  are  larger  than  belong  to  any  other  field 
of  government,  unless  it  be  the  standing  army  in  the  great  war 
powers  of  Europe. 

A  few  figures  will  help  the  understanding.  In  the  United 
States  in  1896-97  the  amount  expended  on  public  schools  was 
about  $200,000,000.  The  amount  paid  for  pensions  for  the 
same  year  was  $134,000,000.  The  total  expenditure  of  the 
postal  department  for  the  same  year  was  $90,000,000.  The  ex- 
penditure for  the  war  department  for  1897  was  $48,000,000; 
for  the  navy  department  $34,000,000;  interest  on  the  public 
debt  $37,000,000.  The  expenditure  for  education  exceeded 
the  total  receipts  from  customs  by  about  $50,000,000.  The 
total  number  of  children  in  the  public  schools  was  over  14,000,- 
ooo ;  in  private  schools  about  1,500,000;  and  in  public  and  private 
secondary  schools  about  600,000;  a  total  of  over  16,000,000  ex- 
clusive of  those  receiving  higher  education,  which  amounted  to 
some  200,000  more,  the  grand  total  reaching  up  to  16,255,000. 
The  total  number  of  teachers  in  the  public  schools  was  some- 
thing over  400,000,  an  army  nearly  twice  as  large  as  that 
called  out  in  our  recent  war  with  Spain.  The  great  railway 
lines  furnish  perhaps  the  only  branch  of  industry  to  be  com- 
pared in  extent  with  school  keeping.  In  1897  there  were  823,- 


THE  PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  9 

ooo  employees  of  the  railways  of  the  United  States,  while  the 
net  earnings  of  the  railways  for  that  time  amounted  to  $332,- 
000,000.  The  aggregate  amount  of  wages  and  salaries  paid 
was  $465,000,000. 

These  figures,  will  not,  it  is  true,  show  so  strikingly  in  favor 
of  education  when  we  take  up  the  great  European  countries. 
There  were  in  England  in  1897  5,500,000  children  on  the 
school  registers,  and  some  130,000  teachers  of  all  kinds.  The 
amount  appropriated  by  the  government  was,  in  round  num- 
bers, $35,000,000,  but  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  schools 
derive  income  also  from  endowments,  school  fees,  local  rates, 
voluntary  subscriptions,  and  other  sources,  which  amounted  in 
England  and  Wales  in  this  year,  1897,  to  about  $50,000,000, 
making  a  total  of  $84,000,000.  In  Germany  in  1890  the  total 
number  of  children  of  school  age  was  8,694,000.  No  official 
statistics  of  the  number  of  schools,  pupils,  teachers,  etc.,  are 
issued  for  the  entire  German  Empire.  The  number  of  ele- 
mentary schools  was  estimated  in  1891  at  56,560;  of  pupils  at- 
tending them,  7,925,000;  and  of  teachers  120,000.  The  imme- 
diate expenditure  on  elementary  schools  was  about  242,400,000 
marks,  or  something  over  $60,000,000.  The  amount  expended 
for  the  army  in  1894-5  in  Germany  was  6 [7, 764, ooo  marks,  or 
about  $124,000,000.  In  France  the  expenditure  of  the  State 
on  public  instruction  in  1895  amounted  to  190,554,000  francs, 
or  a  little  less  than  $40,000,000.  The  total  number  of  pupils 
in  the  elementary  schools  was  6,261,000.  France  had  in  1897, 
including  Algeria,  Martinique  and  Reunion,  a  total  of  409  sec- 
ondary schools,  including  lyces,  communal  colleges  and  col- 
leges for  girls,  with  99,264  pupils.  The  receipts  from  the  state, 
departments,  and  towns  in  these  secondary  schools  in  1896 
amounted  to  37,274,000  francs.  These  are  large  figures,  all. 

Thus  strikingly  does  Dr.  Skinner  put  the  matter:1 

"The  United  States,  to-day  the  youngest  of  all,  is  the  only  great 
nation  of  the  world  which  expends  more  for  education  than  for  war. 
France  spends  annually  $4  per  capita  for  her  army  and  70  cents  per 
capita  for  education  ;  England,  $3.72  for  army  and  62  cents  for  educa- 
tion; Prussia,  $2.04  for  her  army  and  50  cents  for  education;  Italy, 
$1.52  for  her  army  and  36  cents  for  education  ;  Austria,  $1.36  for  her 
army  and  62  cents  for  education;  Russia,  $2.04  for  her  army  and  3 
cents  for  education;  the  United  States,  39  cents  for  army  and  $1.35  for 
education.  England  six  to  one  for  war  ;  Russia  68  to  i  for  war  ;  the 
United  States,  4  to  i  for  education.  The  United  States  spends  more 
per  capita  annually  for  education  than  England,  France  and  Russia 
combined." 

Instances  might  be  given  showing  the  large  place  played  by 
education  in  great  cities.  In  the  city  of  Chicago  the  expendi- 

JIn  the  Best  Education  for  the  Masses,  Chas.  R.  Skinner.  Proceed. 
Nat.  Ed.  Assn.,  1897. 


10  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

ture  for  education  amounts  to  about  $9,000,000  annually. 
There  are  between  five  and  six  thousand  teachers  in  the  city 
and  upwards  of  200,000  pupils.  No  other  one  department  of  the 
city  government  begins  to  approach  in  the  amount  of  expendi- 
tures the  public  schools.  In  New  York  city  the  annual  school 
budget  is  close  to  $20,000,000.  These  figures  are  not  given 
as  absolutely  accurate,  but  as  approximate.  They  are  pre- 
sented solely  to  show  how  vast  a  human  interest  education  has 
become  from  the  purely  business  side,  and  for  this  purpose  they 
are  convincing  enough.  It  is  needless  to  argue  that  proper 
methods  of  organization  and  administration  are  essential  to  the 
successful  conduct  of  this  great  business. 

III. 

THE  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT  AND  THE  SCHOOL. 

In  general,  educational  organization  corresponds  to  national 
forms  of  government  and  administration.  In  Germany  and 
France  there  is  extreme  centralization;  the  greatest  centralized 
system  of  educational  administration  in  the  world  is  that  of 
France.  The  centralizing  principle  is  the  same  in  Germany,  but 
there  education  is  one  of  those  affairs  that  is  left  to  the  individual 
states.  The  German  Empire  as  such  does  not  control  educa- 
tion, but  Prussia,  Saxony,  Wiirtemberg,  Baden,  Bavaria  and 
the  dozen  or  more  minor  states  that  makeup  the  Empire,  have 
each  a  centralized  control,  based  in  most  particulars  upon  the 
Prussian  model.  England  presents  a  modified  form  of  centrali- 
zation, if,  indeed,  it  can  be  called  centralized  at  all.  There  is  a  di- 
rect appropriation  of  money  by  the  central  government  which  is 
expended  under  governmental  direction  and  in  ways  prescribed 
by  the  Committee  of  Council  on  Education.  The  control  of  the 
schools  is  brought  about  rather  by  the  methods  adopted  for 
expending  this  money  than  by  the  assumption  of  any  govern- 
mental prerogative  to  direct  education.  In  the  United  States 
we  have  decentralization  in  its  most  complete,  and,  one  might 
almost  say,  in  its  most  aggravated  form.  So  far  as  the  na- 
tional government  is  concerned  the  position  is  the  same  as  in 
Germany. 

The  United  States  makes  no  direct  appropriation  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  public  schools,  though  it  has  set  aside  lands  for  school 
purposes  and  has  made  direct  grants  for  certain  educational 
objects,  particularly  for  instruction  in  agriculture  and  the  me- 
chanic arts.  The  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education 
exercises  no  control  over  education  at  large,  his  duty  being 
simply  to  collect  and  publish  statistics  and  disseminate  valua- 
ble information  to  the  schools.  But  when  we  come  to  the  in- 
dividual states  the  analogy  with  Germany  breaks  down.  While 


THE   PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  II 

each  state  recognizes  public  instruction  and  provides  a  state 
superintendent  with  limited  authority,  the  actual  direction  of 
school  affairs  practically  resides  in  the  smallest  governmental 
division.  Not  satisfied  with  that  even,  the  people  of  the 
United  States  have  generally  gone  further  and  created  a  par- 
ticular and  minute  governmental  division  for  school  purposes, 
namely,  the  school  district.  The  evil  effects  of  this  district 
organization  are  clearly  shown  by  Martin. 1  At  present  there 
is  in  the  United  States  a  clearly  defined  tendency  to  a  larger 
administrative  unit  in  school  matters.2  The  power  of  the  cen- 
tral authority  varies  considerably  in  the  different  states.  An 
interesting  study  might  be  made  of  this  particular  problem,  the 
extent  and  variety  of  central  versus  local  authority  in  school 
administration  in  our  country. 

Central  administration  in  England  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
Committee  of  Council  on  Education,  the  chief  administrative 
officer  being  the  Vice  President  of  the  Committee  of  Council, 
who  is  frequently,  but  not  always,  a  member  of  the  cabinet. 
The  work  of  the  Committee  of  Council  is  described  in  detail  in 
the  first  forty-five  pages  of  Balfour's  work  on  the  Educational 
Systems  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

The  soul  of  the  English  organization  is  found  in  the  arrange- 
ments for  inspection,  a  function  which  is  brought  to  greater 
perfection  in  England  than  anywhere  else,  upon  it  being  based 
everything  desirable  and  undesirable  in  the  way  of  grants  of 
money,  promotion  of  pupils  and  teachers,  and  other  incidents 
of  school  activity.  In  short,  all  the  varied  interests  of  what- 
ever origin  that  center  about  the  school  find  their  satisfaction  or 
their  sorrow  through  the  inspector.  Whoever,  then,  would  see 
the  best  that  inspection  can  do  for  a  school  system  must  study 
England.  The  nearest  approach  to  the  English  method  that 
has  been  attained  in  this  country  is  in  the  system  of  the  Re- 
gents of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  (see  p.  62).* 
Of  the  system  of  inspection  Balfour  says: 

"The  inspecting  staff  of  the  education  department  consists  of  a 
senior  chief  inspector,  twelve  chief  inspectors  (two  for  the  training 
colleges  and  ten  in  charge  of  school  divisions,  each  comprising  ten 
districts)  and  ninety  inspectors.  Until  1882  young  men  who  had  taken 
high  honors  at  the  universities,  but  had  no  special  knowledge  of  ele- 
mentary education,  were  appointed  as  inspectors,  but  since  that  date 
the  appointments  have  been  made  on  grounds  of  special  qualification 

1Geo.  H.  Martin:  Evolution  of  the  Massachusetts  Public  School 
System,  p.  114. 

2  See  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Rural  Schools  (published  by  Nat. 
Ed.  Assn.). 

8  In  other  states,  progress  is  making  in  this  direction,  e.  g.,  Minne- 
sota has  two  state  inspectors,  one  for  high  schools  and  one  for  lower 
schools. 


12  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

or  experience.  There  are  over  fifty  first-class  sub-inspectors,  a  class 
instituted  in  1882,  appointed  from  the  second-class  inspectors  (known 
until  1896  as  inspector's  assistants),  of  whom  there  were  161  in  1897 
appointed  from  the  head  teachers  of  public  elementary  schools.  In 
1896  two  mistresses  were  promoted  to  be  sub-inspectors,  and  a  third 
in  1897.  The  staff  of  more  than  twenty  '  examiners  '  in  the  education 
office  who  examine  the  inspector's  reports,  assess  the  grants,  and  re- 
vise the  examination  papers  for  certificates,  Queen's  Scholarships, 
etc.,  is  appointed  from  the  class  which  formerly  supplied  inspectors." 

The  following  brief  account  of  the  Prussian  system  is  taken 
from  the  Statesman's  Year-Book,  1899: 

"The  whole  of  the  educational  establishments  in  Prussia  are  under  the 
control  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  medicinal  and  Ecclesias- 
tical Affairs,  but  there  is  a  local  supervision  for  every  province.  The  ad- 
ministration of  each  of  these,  so  far  as  regards  the  Regierungs-Bezirke, 
is  vested  in  a  president,  who  is  the  head  of  the  Civil  Government 
(Regierung), while  the  management  of  the  higher  (secondary)  schools 
and  the  normal  schools  belongs  to  the  Provincial  Schul-Collegium, 
under  the  supervision  of  the  Oberprasident,  who  is  the  head  of  the 
Civil  Government  of  the  Province.  The  Consistorium,  which  has  no 
jurisdiction  in  the  school  administration,  and  the  Provincial  Schul- 
Collegium  are  separate  provincial  authorities,  not  sections  of  the  same 
authority.  As  a  general  rule  the  administration  of  school  funds 
provided  by  the  state  is  under  the  control  of  the  Civil  Government, 
which  likewise  takes  upon  itself  nearly  the  whole  management  of  the 
lower  and  elementary  schools,  while  the  Schul-Collegium  is  responsi- 
ble for  the  higher  schools  and  the  normal  schools,  for  the  general  sys- 
tem of  instruction  and  discipline  therein,  the  proper  selection  of  school 
books,  the  examination  and  appointment  of  masters,  and  the  exami- 
nation of  those  who  leave  school  for  the  universities. 

"  According  to  the  Constitution  of  1850,  all  persons  are  at  liberty  to 
teach,  or  to  form  establishments  for  instruction,  provided  they  can 
prove  to  the  authorities  their  moral,  scientific  and  technical  qualifica- 
tions. But  private  as  well  as  public  establishments  for  education  are 
placed  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion, while  all  public  teachers  are  considered,  directly  or  indirectly, 
state  servants." 

In  France  all  administrative  departments  in  their  present 
organization  bear  the  stamp  of  the  Napoleon's  genius.  He 
was,  indeed,  one  of  the  world's  greatest  educational  statesmen. 
The  decree  of  March,  1808,  which  organized  the  University  of 
France,  placed  it  under  the  control  of  a  grand  master  and  a 
universal  council  of  30  members  organized  into  five  sections. 
Napoleon  gave  to  the  university  the  monopoly  of  education.  It 
is  the  state  teaching.  The  term  university  thereby  became  syn- 
onymous in  France  with  the  entire  system  of  public  education. 
The  system  still  retains  much  of  the  external  form  and  con- 
stituent parts  of  this  organization,  though  the  monopoly  was 
gradually  relinquished  after  the  fall  of  the  emperor,  and  since  the 
passage  of  the  educational  law  of  March  15,  1850,  the  organ- 
ized system  of  public  education  has  no  longer  been  officially 
designated  by  the  word  university,  though  in  common  usage 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  13 

it  is  frequently  so  called  still.  The  form  has  been  somewhat 
changed,  but  the  centralization  of  school  management  which  was 
employed  in  the  organization  of  all  schools  into  one  university 
has  not  even  been  called  in  question  until  very  recently. 

The  official  administration  of  education  is  controlled  as  fol- 
lows: first  by  the  minister  of  public  instruction  and  worship,  an 
office  created  August  26,  1824,  who  is  assisted  by  an  advisory 
council,  chosen  by  himself  and  acting  as  his  cabinet,  which  was 
formally  constituted  in  the  decree  of  March  25,  1873,  issued  by 
Jules  Simon ;  second,  by  the  superior  council  of  public  in- 
struction which  is  the  great  deliberative  head  of  the  educa- 
tional organization.  It  numbers  60  members,  three-fourths  of 
whom  are  chosen  by  their  peers  from  the  three  orders  of  in- 
struction, primary,  secondary  and  higher,  the  remainder  be- 
ing appointed  by  the  president  of  the  republic  on  the  advice  of 
the  minister.  The  term  of  service  is  four  years.  Members  are 
eligible  to  re-election,  and  women  are  eligible  to  membership. 
The  general  council  prescribes  the  course  of  instruction  in  all 
public  schools,  determines  the  condition  under  which  private 
schools  may  be  opened,  and  serves  as  the  final  court  of  appeals 
from  judgments  rendered  by  the  academic  or  departmental 
councils.  There  are  two  distinct  systems  of  institutions  com- 
prised under  the  control  of  the  educational  department,  first, 
the  secondary  and  higher  institutions,  the  history  of  which 
can  be  traced  into  the  middle  ages,  and  second,  the  primary 
schools  which  are  largely  the  work  of  the  present  republic  and 
have  been  growing  up  mainly  since  iSyo.1 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  head  of  the  educational  work 
in  France  is  a  member  of  the  cabinet  under  the  title  of  Minis- 
ter of  Public  Instruction  and  Worship.  In  Italy,  also,  there  is 
a  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  who  is  a  member  of  the  cabi- 
net. Austria,  also,  has  in  the  cabinet  a  Minister  of  Public  In- 
struction and  Ecclesiastical  Affairs;  Hungary,  Russia  and 
Sweden  and  Norway  have  a  Minister  of  Education  and  Public 
Worship;  Switzerland  forms  an  exception  since  there  is  no  cen- 
tralization in  its  administration.  Even  Turkey  has  its  Minis- 
ter of  Public  Instruction.  Other  examples  might  be  given 
from  the  minor  European  states  and  from  the  states  of  South 
America,  showing  the  practical  unanimity  of  practice  in  mak- 
ing instruction  a  department  of  the  national  government  with 
a  minister  at  the  head,  having  a  seat  in  the  cabinet. 

We  thus  see  that  those  nations  which  have  strongly  central- 
ized governments,  whether  those  governments  be  republican 
or  monarchical  in  form,  have  also  strongly  centralized  school 

JAn  adequate  account  of  this  system  is  given  in  French  Schools 
Through  American  Eyes,  by  James  Russell  Parsons,  Jr. 


14  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

administrations.  Republican  France  has  the  most  centralized 
administration  of  all;  republican  Switzerland  has  no  centrali- 
zation; monarchical  Great  Britain  has  a  centralization  with  the 
starch  all  taken  out  of  it;  and  the  republican  United  States 
has  the  most  extreme  de-centralization.  At  the  two  extremes 
stand  the  two  republics,  France  and  the  United  States.  It  may 
be  idle  to  speculate  as  to  the  relative  merits  of  these  two  an- 
tagonistic forms  of  organization  and  administration,  for  as  they 
correspond  to  national  life  and  political  organization  they  are 
not  likely  to  be  changed  on  purely  theoretical  grounds.  Still, 
a  brief  consideration  of  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of 
the  two  forms  will  be  undertaken  in  the  following  chapters, 
for  many  unsettled  problems  cluster  about  the  fundamental 
antagonism  which  these  forms  represent. 

IV. 
THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  CENTRALIZATION. 

Of  the  advantages  that  inhere  in  a  centralized  system  of 
school  administration  some  are  quite  obvious,  others  must  be 
sought  below  the  surface.  Without  straining  any  relations  the 
considerations  that  follow  may  fairly  be  arrayed  in  favor  of  the 
centralized  forms. 

First:  Absolute  uniformity  may  be  secured  throughout  in 
the  school  system  of  the  state.  The  administrative  advantages 
of  such  uniformity  are  very  great,  so  great  as  often  to  over- 
whelm every  other  consideration.  Many  if  not  most  of  the 
perplexing  administrative  problems  in  the  United  States  to- 
day arise  from  the  lack  of  this  uniformity.  Where  the  schools 
have  a  definite  objective  goal  ahead  of  them  which  all  must  at- 
tain, uniformity  in  plan  is  very  alluring.  It  must  in  fairness  be 
recognized  that  some  degree  of  uniformity  has  so  far  been  found 
necessary  in  managing  large  bodies  of  teachers  and  pupils. 

Second:  School  administration  is  eliminated  entirely  from 
local  politics.  In  a  strike  in  New  York,  Brooklyn  policemen 
were  sent  to  New  York  City,  and  New  York  City  policemen  to 
Brooklyn  in  order  that  they  might  do  their  duty  toward  the 
strikers  free  from  the  influence  of  personal  associations  and 
local  ties.  Some  things  must  always  be  done  in  public  ad- 
ministration that  are  distasteful  and  that  cause  anger  and  dis- 
satisfaction in  certain  of  the  population.  In  the  enforcement  of 
the  excise  laws  in  New  York  State,  for  example,  the  matter 
has  been  placed  entirely  in  the  hands  of  a  state  board.  The 
excise  officers  are  thus  strangers  in  the  community,  they  have 
no  friends  to  protect,  and  in  a  given  town  they  have  no  politi- 
cal future  which  may  be  ruined  by  prosecuting  violators  of  the 
law.  Where  centralization  prevails  an  entire  course  of  study 


THB   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  15 

is  not  likely  to  be  overturned  in  a  moment  as  the  result  of  a 
passing  wave  of  public  prejudice,  whim  or  fancy,  nor  is  the 
teacher's,  or  principal's,  or  superintendent's  position  placed  in 
insecurity  through  an  often  fanciful  slight  to  some  influential 
local  magnate.  Evils  of  this  kind  are  too  well  known  in  our 
own  country  to  require  any  further  explanation. 

Third:  Centralization  of  administration  prevents  the  adop- 
tion of  serious  changes  in  the  curriculum  until  after  long,  care- 
ful and  scientific  consideration  has  been  given  to  these  proposed 
changes.  It  thus  tends  towards  conservatism.  An  illustration 
is  found  in  the  reforms  in  the  German  higher  schools  instituted 
as  a  result  of  the  Berlin  conference  of  iSgo.1  There  had  been 
a  somewhat  general  demand  throughout  Germany  for  changes 
in  the  system  of  higher  education.  Through  the  Minister  of 
Instruction  invitations  were  issued  to  nearly  fifty  prominent 
school  men  of  Prussia  who  met  together  in  solemn  conclave  for 
two  weeks.  The  sessions  of  the  conference  were  opened  and 
closed  by  the  Hmperor  in  person.  The  eyes  of  the  whole  country 
were  directed  upon  the  doings  of  this  body.  It  met  with  such 
authority,  and  under  such  auspices  as  have  not  favored  the 
work  of  any  educational  commission  in  the  United  States.  Re- 
ports of  the  meetings  were  published  from  day  to  day  in  the 
papers,  and  at  the  close  the  entire  proceedings  were  issued  in 
a  great  volume  which  forms  a  storehouse  of  pedagogical  ma- 
terial. The  changes  that  were  finally  adopted  were  slight,  rela- 
tively speaking,  and  yet  in  the  line  of  public  agitation.  The 
step  taken  was  not  a  great  one,  but  it  was  towards  progress.2 

Fourth:  Centralized  administration  tends  to  bring  a  higher 
grade  of  talent  into  educational  administration.  In  the  first 
place,  a  seat  in  the  cabinet  is  the  highest  position,  ordinarily, 
within  the  reach  of  a  citizen.  The  Minister  of  Public  Instruction 
is  generally  an  able  and  distinguished  man,  and  the  recogni- 
tion of  education  by  the  government  as  one  of  the  co-ordi- 
nate departments  of  administration  in  itself  dignifies  the  sub- 
ject. Further  than  that,  where  a  curriculum  is  prescribed 
in  some  detail  for  the  entire  country  by  a  small  body,  expert 
knowledge  of  the  highest  order  is  likely  to  be  called  into  play. 
I  notice,  for  example,  that  in  the  plan  of  studies  of  the  French 
lycee,  the  work  in  philosophy  is  outlined  by  Paul  Janet,  and 
the  other  subjects  are  in  the  hands  of  men  of  equally  high  au- 
thority, though  not  so  well  known  in  the  United  States.  The 
higher  officers  of  education  under  these  conditions  constitute 

1  See  the  Higher  Schools  of  Prussia  and  the  School  Conference  of 
1890,  by  C.  H.  Thurber,  in  Report  of  Bureau  of  Education,  1889-90. 

*  After  ten  years  in  which  to  try  the  effect  of  these  innovations,  the 
Emperor  issued  another  proclamation  on  the  subject  (see  p.  47)  which 
has  aroused  educational  circles,  and  may  lead  to  another  conference. 


1 6  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

also  a  fairly  permanent  body  who  are  enabled  to  inaugurate 
and  carry  out  a  definite  programme  of  work  impossible  when 
position  depends  upon  annual  or  biennial  re-election  by  the 
people.  The  tendency  in  centralized  administration  is  to  place 
and  to  leave  the  direction  of  education  in  the  hands  of  profes- 
sional experts,  prepared  for  their  work  by  special  and  severe 
training.  Even  the  British  system  with  its  partial  centraliza- 
tion has  been  able  to  call  to  its  administration  a  line  of  distin- 
guished men  of  whom  I  need  only  mention  Sir  Joshua  Fitch 
and  Matthew  Arnold.  Indeed,  on  this  whole  question  I  can 
scarcely  do  better  than  to  quote  what  Arnold  himself  says: 

"  I  come,  lastly,  to  the  third  point  for  our  remark  in  continental 
education.  These  foreign  governments  which  we  think  so  offensively 
arbitrary,  do  at  least  take,  when  they  administer  education,  the  best 
educational  opinion  of  the  country  into  their  counsels,  and  we 
do  not.  This  comes  partly  from  our  disbelief  in  government,  partly 
from  our  belief  in  machinery.  Our  disbelief  in  government  makes 
us  slow  to  organize  government  perfectly  for  any  matter.  Our 
belief  in  machinery  makes  us  think  that  when  we  have  organ- 
ized a  department,  however  imperfectly,  it  must  prove  efficacious 
and  self-acting.  The  result  is  that  while,  on  the  continent  through 
boards  and  councils,  the  best  educational  opinion  of  the  coun- 
try,— by  which  I  mean  the  opinion  of  men  like  Sir  James  Shut- 
tleworth,  Mr.  Mill,  Dr.  Temple,  men  who  have  established  their 
right  to  be  at  least  heard  on  these  topics, — necessarily  reaches  the 
government  and  influences  its  action,  in  this  country  there  are  no  or- 
ganized means  for  its  ever  reaching  our  government  at  all.  The  most 
important  questions  of  educational  policy  may  be  settled  without  such 
men  even  being  heard.  A  number  of  grave  matters  affecting  public 
instruction  in  this  country, — our  system  of  competitive  examinations, 
our  regulation  of  studies,  our  whole  school  legislation,  are  at  the 
present  moment  settled  one  hardly  knows  how,  certainly  without  any 
care  for  the  best  counsel  attainable  being  first  taken  on  them.  On  the 
continent  it  is  not  so  ;  and  the  more  our  government  is  likely  in  Eng- 
land to  have  to  intervene  in  educational  matters,  the  more  does  the 
continental  practice,  in  this  particular,  invite  and  require  our  at- 
tention."1 

Fifth:  Centralized  administration  permits  of  the  immediate 
introduction  of  such  reforms  in  the  curriculum  as  have  com- 
mended themselves  to  the  conservative  judgment  of  the  educa- 
tional authorities.  Thus  the  reforms  proposed  by  the  school 
conference  of  Prussia,  so  far  as  they  were  adopted  by  the  edu- 
cational administration,  were  put  into  effect  at  once  all  over 
Prussia  by  ministerial  decree.  It  did  not  take  years  of  agita- 
tion and  continual  local  combats  and  a  long  process  of  educa- 
ting public  opinion  to  bring  these  reforms  about.  Having  been 
determined  upon  by  the  educational  administration,  they  were 
at  once  put  into  effect,  whether  the  local  authorities  thought 
well  of  them  or  not. 

Sixth:   Centralized  administration  tends  to  the  organization 

1  Matthew  Arnold,  Higher  Schools  and  Universities  of  Germany. 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  17 

of  education  on  broader  lines  than  is  possible  with  purely  local 
ends  in  view.  Education  is  apt  to  be  considered  from  the  point 
of  view  of  national  service  and  value.  The  reorganization  of 
education  in  France  in  the  last  quarter-century  illustrates  this 
point.  It  could  not  be  expected  that  all  the  communes  through- 
out France  would  realize  after  the  disaster  of  the  Franco- Prus- 
sian war  the  necessity  of  recreating  their  state  by  educational 
means.  A  few  high-minded  statesmen  first  recognized  this, 
and  by  legislative  enactment  took  measures  for  the  education 
of  France  which  were  founded  upon  the  highest  political  wis- 
dom. Vast  sums  of  money  were  expended  for  a  purpose  which 
was  remote  and  somewhat  ideal;  the  constant  temptation  to 
sacrifice  the  future  best  to  the  present  good  to  which  mankind 
so  generally  yields  was  put  aside  by  these  statesmen  and  the 
educational  system  reformed  with  the  future  best  steadily  in 
view.  It  is  possible,  then,  under  these  conditions,  for  educa- 
tional statesmanship  of  high  order  to  develop.  The  best  in- 
stance we  have  of  this  in  our  own  country  is  probably  afforded 
by  the  work  of  Horace  Mann  in  reorganizing  the  school  sys- 
tem of  Massachusetts.  It  is  true  that  he  had  comparatively 
little  power,  and  that  he  was  obliged  to  build  up  the  influence 
of  his  great  office;  still,  the  work  that  he  accomplished  remains 
for  all  times  a  monument  to  us  of  what  far-sighted  educa- 
tional statesmanship  may  accomplish  for  the  schools  of  a  state 
in  spite  of  bitter  opposition  from  short-sighted  temporizers. 

Seventh:  Centralized  administration  relieves  school  officers 
of  the  continual  struggle  over  curriculum  and  courses  of  study 
to  which  such  a  large  proportion  of  their  time  must  otherwise 
be  given,  and  leaves  them  free  to  carry  on  the  great  work  of 
teaching  and  to  develop  methods  of  instruction  to  a  high  order 
of  perfection.  This  is  substantially  illustrated  in  Germany. 
Nowhere  is  there  a  more  intelligent  and  active  body  of  teachers 
than  in  the  various  German  states.  Germany  has  been  the 
great  home  of  pedagogy,  whither,  only  a  few  years  ago,  all 
students  from  the  United  States  who  wished  to  study  education 
were  obliged  to  go.  We  may  fairly  ask  the  question  whether 
the  great  development  in  methods  of  education  which  has  taken 
place  in  Germany  would  have  produced  so  many  valuable  re- 
sults if  the  teachers,  and  particularly  the  principals  of  schools, 
had  been  obliged  to  consume  a  large  part  of  their  time  in  the 
discussion  of  the  curriculum  and  of  purely  administrative  ques- 
tions. 

Eighth:  Centralized  administration  provides  absolute  rules 
for  the  qualification  and  appointment  of  teachers,  removing 
these  matters  entirely  from  local  influence,  laying  out  a  regu- 
lar course  of  preparation  for  teachers  and  providing  the  insti- 
tutions necessary  to  secure  that  preparation.  A  uniform  standard 


1 8  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

of  teaching  efficiency  throughout  the  state  is  thereby  attained. 
The  system  of  French  normal  schools  is  a  fine  illustration  of 
this.  Not  only  does  the  government  provide  normal  schools 
for  the  instruction  of  teachers,  but  at  the  head  of  these  normal 
schools  stand  two  superior  schools  for  the  express  purpose  of 
preparing  teachers  for  the  normal  schools  themselves. 

These  are  the  chief  advantages  which  seem  to  me  to  flow 
from  a  centralized  system  of  educational  administration.  On 
the  other  hand  we  may  inquire  what  the  disadvantages  of  such 
a  system  are,  or,  to  put  it  in  positive  form,  what  are  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  decentralized  system  of  education  such  as  we 
have  in  the  United  States  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  will 
be  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. 

V. 

THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  DECENTRALIZATION. 

As  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter  the  centralized 
form  of  school  administration  offers  many  substantial  advan- 
tages and  puts  forth  strong  claims  for  general  recognition.  Yet 
in  the  United  States  the  centralized  form  has  never  prevailed, 
indeed,  all  attempts  toward  it  have  been  bitterly  opposed ; 
and  even  in  those  countries  where  the  acme  of  centralization 
has  been  reached  we  already  see  the  beginning  of  a  strong  re- 
action towards  decentralization.  The  decentralized  form  must 
then  have  some  strong  claims  to  put  forward  for  popular  favor, 
must  offer  advantages  that  in  the  minds  of  many  quite  out- 
weigh those  of  the  competing  form.  What  are  those  advantages? 

First:  Analogy  with  other  branches  of  administration  is  the 
most  obvious  if  not  the  most  fundamental  advantage  of  the  de- 
centralized form,  and  of  the  centralized  form  as  well  for  that 
matter.  So  long  as  the  decentralized  form  corresponds  to  the 
general  ideal  of  the  people  it  is  to  a  certain  extent  futile,  of 
course,  to  consider  the  question  of  introducing  a  more  central- 
ized organization. 

Second:  Decentralization  gives  opportunity  for  individual 
initiative.  This  is,  perhaps,  the  greatest  argument  in  its  favor. 
In  place  of  a  dull  uniformity,  there  is  a  sprightly  lack  of  uni- 
formity, springing  from  the  differences  in  individuals  at  the 
head  of  educational  administration  in  different  localities.  A 
new  idea  in  education  may  be  adopted  and  put  into  effect  at 
once  and  proved  in  a  small  area  to  be  good  or  bad;  if  bad,  its 
evil  influence  is  not  likely  to  be  extended;  if  good,  it  becomes 
an  object  lesson  for  others.  Thus,  in  place  of  a  small  number 
of  experts  administering  the  whole  system,  there  arises  a  large 
body  of  talented  individuals,  each  striving  to  do  the  best  in 
his  particular  field,  with  every  stimulus  to  personal  exertion 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  19 

and  every  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  creative  ability. 
There  is  a  wider  development  if  not  a  higher  development  of 
administrative  capacity. 

Third:  Decentralization  permits  instant  adaptation  to  local 
needs.  There  is  some  justice  in  the  claim  that  where  the  peo- 
ple pay  for  the  schools,  they  should  have  the  kind  of  schools 
they  want.  Centralized  administration  may  fail  to  provide  ad- 
equately for  the  specific  needs  of  individual  communities.  All 
general  laws  are  apt  to  work  hardship  upon  individuals.  De- 
centralization avoids  the  possibility  of  such  local  injustice. 
Where  local  needs  are  real  and  based  upon  sound  reason  there 
seems  to  be  no  fair  ground  for  ignoring  them. 

Fourth:  Decentralization  introduces  a  spirit  of  generous  riv- 
alry between  different  communities,  which,  so  long  as  it  re- 
mains generous,  is  wholesome.  The  elimination  of  a  proper 
competitive  spirit  from  modern  society  is  as  yet  a  dream  of 
visionaries.  Indeed,  the  old  saying  that  competition  is  the  life 
of  trade  is  more  respected  to-day  than  it  was  a  few  years  ago, 
though  it  has  been  given  a  larger  significance  and  scope.  Hel- 
vetius  held  that  it  was  only  ambition  that  made  the  difference 
in  men  and  in  nations.  It  certainly  would  seem  that  there  are 
few  individuals,  few  communities,  few  states  which  may  be 
safely  left  to  develop  the  highest  degree  of  effectiveness  with- 
out the  spur  of  competition.  Few  men  of  ambition  would  be 
willing  to  be  deprived  of  that  spur;  most  men  are  only  too 
deeply  conscious  of  their  need  of  it.  A  proper  rivalry  between 
states,  cities  and  adjacent  towns  has  been  a  mighty  force  in 
advancing  education  in  this  country. 

Fifth:  So  far  as  teachers  are  concerned,  decentralized  admin- 
istration offers  the  following  advantages: 

(a)  Provisions  may  be  made  by  which  capable  persons,  who 
for  various  reasons  may  have  been  unable  to  pass  through  the 
stages  of  the  prescribed  course  of  preparation,  but  have  yet  ac- 
quired adequate  education  and  have  the  gift  of  teaching,  may 
be  brought  into  the  service  of  the  community.     There  is  no 
principle  of  justice  by  which  such  persons  can  be  fairly  deprived 
of  this  opportunity.  fo<%*4^/  fa?P~' 

(b)  Teachers  have  a  better  opportunity  to  react  upon  the 
conditions  which  create  them   and   the   powers  which   employ 
them.     This  reaction  under  a  centralized  system  must   at  best 
be  very  indirect  and  proportionately  ineffectual.     Under  a  de- 
centralized system  the  teachers  are  able  to  get  directly  at  the 
moving  springs  of  the  institution  of  which  they  form  a  part, 
and  thus  it  is  possible  for  them  in  considerable  degree  to  mod- 
ify the  educational  conditions  under  which  they  work.    In  any 
intellectual  occupation  such  a  reactive  opportunity  is  highly  to 
be  desired.     Action  without  reaction  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of 
nature. 


2O  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

Sixth:  Another  consideration  in  favor  of  decentralization 
demands  a  little  more  extended  treatment.  Decentralization 
favors  the  participation  of  all  the  interested  social  factors  in  the 
administration  of  education.  These  social  factors  or  powers  are 
the  family,  the  community,  the  church  and  the  state.  Under 
strong  centralized  administration  such  as  we  see  developed  in 
France  and  in  Germany,  the  .state  usurps  practically  the  entire 
control  of  the  educational  system. 

The  question  may  even  be  raised  whether  the  great  achieve- 
ment of  the  last  century  in  producing  universal,  compulsory, 
lay  instruction  is  to  stand  unchallenged  for  all  time.  If  we  take 
up  the  subject  from  an  historical  point  of  view,  we  find  that  the 
three  social  elements  which  have  been  crowded  out  of  the 
control  of  the  school  by  the  state,  namely,  the  family,  the 
community  and  the  church,  are  the  very  factors  to  which 
the  schools  have  owed  their  development.  The  interest  of 
the  family  can  never  be  anything  but  most  keen  and  vital  in 
everything  that  pertains  to  bringing  up  children;  certainly,  it 
never  ought  to  be  otherwise.  If  it  be  true  that  parents  do  take 
less  actual  interest  in  educational  affairs  now  than  at  an  earlier 
period,  the  increase  in  centralized  control  may  have  to  answer 
for  this  loss.  To  the  efforts  of  the  church  schools  in  the  begin- 
ning owed  a  vast  deal,  and  the  church  has  showed  no  willing- 
ness to  abandon  its  share  of  school  control.  The  common 
school  originally  owed  everything  to  the  community,  for  the 
origin  of  common  schools  is  undoubtedly  to  be  found  in  the 
banding  together  of  a  few  neighboring  families  to  secure  better 
facilities  for  the  education  of  their  youth. 

All  these  statements  are  as  true  of  the  United  States,  mutatis 
mutandis,  as  of  the  other  countries  we  have  been  considering. 
The  church  in  the  early  days  of  Massachusetts,  for  example, 
practically  was  the  state.  There  are,  indeed,  few  better  in- 
stances of  an  ecclesiastical  state  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  first 
century  of  Massachusetts  life.  In  the  United  States  there  is 
to-day  no  little  agitation  of  the  question  as  to  how  the  family 
can  come  once  more  into  closer  connection  with  the  school. 
Women's  clubs  are  taking  up  the  question,  and  in  many  other 
ways  the  matter  is  being  brought  to  public  attention.  Fur- 
thermore, the  social  life  of  the  community  as  a  whole  seeks  to 
find  a  way  of  impressing  itself  upon  the  school  organization.  A 
provision  for  this  purpose  was  inserted  in  the  so-called  ' '  Har- 
per Bill  "  for  reorganizing  the  school  system  of  Chicago.  By 
that  provision  school  visitors  were  to  be  appointed  from  families 
residing  in  the  neighborhood  of  each  school. 

While  we  have  decided  in  the  United  States  that  education 
as  supported  by  the  state  must  be  entirely  disassociated  from 
all  ecclesiastical  matters,  yet  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  decen- 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  21 

tralized  organization  gives  vastly  greater  opportunities  for  the 
participation  in  educational  activities  of  the  family,  the  com- 
munity and  the  church.  Sometimes  this  participation  may 
take  the  form  of  annoying  and  even  injurious  interference,  so 
that  a  public  school  system  based  on  state  support  may  occa- 
sionally resent  this  proffered  assistance.  But  the  question 
may  fairly  be  asked  whether  it  is  not,  on  the  whole,  desirable 
that  opportunities  for  such  participation  should  be  afforded  to 
those  great  interests  upon  which  education  has  historically  been 
built.  Interests  which  naturally  and  inevitably  have  to  do 
largely  with  educational  progress  should  be  afforded  oppor- 
tunity to  react  upon  the  educational  system  of  the  country. 
Intellectual  affairs  grow  and  flourish  best  where  a  warm  inter- 
est is  felt  for  them,  but  this  interest  is  enduring  and  effect- 
ual only  when  those  who  share  it  are  not  mere  spectators, 
but  are  also  fellow  workers.  Those  who  can  advise,  decide, 
lend  a  helping  hand,  interest  themselves  much  more  deeply 
and  keenly  for  the  progress  of  any  matter  than  those  to  whom 
everything  is  sent  down  as  a  commandment  from  higher  au- 
thorities, to  whom  everything  flows  from  some  external  source. 
This  applies  as  truly  to  the  teachers  themselves  as  it  does  to 
the  family,  the  community  and  the  church.  Decentralized  ad- 
ministration, then,  enables  justice  to  be  done  to  all  parties 
concerned  in  the  progress  of  education.  Kven  though  the  state 
dominates  the  situation,  it  does  not  entirely  exclude  from  its 
councils  the  other  great  factors  of  society  life. 

It  is  curious  and  suggestive  to  note  the  past  history  and 
present  status  of  this  particular  problem  in  the  different  coun- 
tries we  are  considering.  In  Germany,  for  instance,  where  the 
most  extreme  form  of  centralization  has  existed,  next  to  France, 
there  is  now  strong  agitation  for  decentralization.  Professor 
Rein  says,  for  example:  "  What  the  state  does  for  education 
does  not  belong  to  its  immediate  duties  and  never  will 
belong  thereto  unless  the  state  interferes  with  the  most 
inalienable  rights  of  individual  and  personal  freedom.  The 
duty  of  the  state  is  simply  to  bear  itself  helpfully,  protectingly, 
and  supportingly  toward  that  which  has  been  formed  independ- 
ently by  free  association.  Otherwise,  the  state  runs  the  dan- 
ger of  killing  many  flowers  of  progress  in  the  bud;  of  produc- 
ing by  its  uniform  rules  an  opposition  that  will  be  highly 
dangerous  to  the  state  itself.  One  of  the  surest  teachings  of 
history  is  that  intellectual  flood  tides  cannot  be  held  back  by 
mechanical  means,  but  where  they  are  overthrown  by  external 
authority  the  death  of  all  intellectual  life  is  thereby  sealed." 

In  France,  too,  which  shows  the  most  extremely  centralized 
form  of  organization,  there  is  at  the  present  time  a  general 
movement  toward  decentralization,  a  movement  which  has  been 


22  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

felt  thus  far  chiefly  in  the  universities,  but  which  will  doubtless 
extend  to  the  lower  schools.  Compayre's  views  are,  perhaps 
typical  of  the  new  tendency.  He  says:  ("  Doctrines  of 
Education,"  Volume  II.)  "When  we  have  agreed  upon  the 
principles,  when  we  have  recognized  the  necessity  of  instruc- 
tion, it  still  remains  to  discuss  the  practical  means  which 
may  assure  its  progress.  The  first  of  all  is  to  leave  more  of 
initiative  to  individuals,  more  liberty  to  .the  communes,  to 
the  small  aggregations  of  men  which  are  united  by  common 
interests^  In  the  United  States  it  is  the  individual  states  and 
the  communities  which  take  charge  of  the  organization  of 
schools,  regulation  of  methods,  and  the  supervision  of  teachers. 
Would  the  cities  of  America  make  such  large  expenditures  for 
instruction  if  they  were  not  themselves  the  masters  who 
regulated  in  their  own  way  and  according  to  local  interests 
all  which  concerns  the  instruction  of  the  children  ?  There 
it  is  not  only  a  few  hundred  inspectors  scattered  over  the 
surface  of  the  territory  who  watch  over  national  education; 
it  is  six  hundred  thousand  teachers  who,  divided  into  com- 
mittees selected  by  election,  share  the  care  of  supervision  and 
inspection.  L,et  the  state,  then,  make  a  larger  appeal  to  the 
initiative  of  the  communes.  Let  it  not  demand  absolute  uni- 
formity in  methods.  Let  it  take  account  of  the  diversity  of  needs 
and  it  will  more  and  more  see  the  citizens  co-operate  zealously 
for  the  accomplishment  of  the  serious  task  of  popular  instruc- 
tion." 

The  history  of  England  gives  us  a  different  picture.  There 
the  state,  as  it  favored  free  trade  and  left  economic  conditions 
free,  also  regarded  the  realm  of  culture  and  education  as  a  free 
field  into  which  it  might  not  enter.  But  they  have  broken  more 
and  more  with  this  view  in  England  since  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  have  recognized  the  idea  of  state  or- 
ganization as  necessary  for  the  educational  system;  so  that  now 
the  agitation  in  England  is  chiefly  in  the  direction  of  greater 
centralization. 

Centralized  France  is  moving  toward  decentralization;  cen- 
tralized Germany  in  the  same  direction;  decentralized  England 
is  becoming  more  and  more  centralized,  and  centralization  is 
making  progress  in  the  United  States.  It  may  fairly  be  ques- 
tioned whether  it  is  not  possible  to  so  combine  centralization 
and  decentralization  as  to  secure  the  essential  benefits  of  both 
without  sacrificing  the  most  important  advantages  of  either.  It 
is  upon  this  problem  that  much  attention  may  profitably  be  di- 
rected in  the  near  future. 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  23 

VI. 

PRINCIPLES  UNDERLYING  THE  COMMON  SCHOOLS. 

The  three  great  divisions  most  generally  recognized  in  the 
educational  field  are  elementary,  secondary,  and  higher,  cor- 
responding, roughly,  to  the  divisions  of  childhood,  youth,  and 
adolescence.  The  use  of  these  particular  terms .  we  owe  to 
France.  In  Germany  the  division  of  higher  education  includes 
what  is  generally  called  in  our  country  secondary  education. 

The  field  of  elementary  education  is  everywhere  the  most 
clearly  defined  of  all.  Where  secondary  education  overlaps  this 
field  there  yet  always  exists  a  well-recognized  and  well-organized 
scheme  of  elementary  education  covering  substantially  the  same 
period — the  first  eight  years  of  school  life.  Starting  with  the 
first  formal  instruction,  it  ends,  theoretically,  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fourteenth  year;  or,  in  general  terms,  at  the  dawn 
of  adolescence.  It  covers,  then,  the  period  of  physical  child- 
hood. 

Though  there  are  some  obvious  reasons  why  the  world 
waited  so  long  as  it  did  for  the  organization  of  the  common 
schools,  yet  we  should  need  to  go  far  into  the  field  of  the  study 
of  educational  ideals  in  order  to  explain  this  phenomenon  fully. 
The  existence  of  slavery  among  all  the  ancient  civilizations 
precluded  the  conception  of  universal  education.  The  attitude 
toward  woman,  also,  was  such  that  her  formal  education  re- 
ceived practically  no  consideration.  Political,  social  and  eco- 
nomic influences  all  bore  their  part.  A  mechanical  invention 
was  as  influential  as  any  other  one  factor  to  bring  in  universal 
education,  for  before  printing  came  the  means  of  education 
were  very  difficult  of  attainment.  When  there  were  no  books 
to  read  and  no  economic  need  of  reading  and  writing  it  is  not 
strange  that  these  elementary  subjects  should  have  been  neg- 
lected. In  the  origin  of  the  common  schools,  the  family,  the 
community,  the  state  and  the  church  each  played  an  import- 
ant part.  Common  schools  undoubtedly  first  originated  in  a 
formal  way  through  the  banding  together  of  a  few  neighboring 
families;  but  both  state  and  church  always  took  a  jealous  in- 
terest in  education,  in  whatever  form,  and  immediately  ex- 
tended this  interest  to  the  common  schools.  A  great  impulse 
to  their  development  was  given  by  the  reformation  under  the 
leadership  of  L/uther  and  Melancthon.1 

1  "A  notable  and  lamentable  fact  in  the  educational  arrangements  of 
the  Middle  Ages  was  the  neglect  of  the  common  people.  No  general 
effort  was  made  to  reach  and  elevate  them  by  education.  The  ecclesi- 
astical schools  were  designed  chiefly  for  candidates  for  the  priest- 
hood ;  the  parochial  schools  fitted  the  young  for  church  membership; 
the  burgher  schools  were  intended  for  the  commercial  and  artisan 


24  THE   PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

The  two  great  reasons  always  prominent  in  Luther's  mind 
for  the  maintenance  of  schools  were,  the  welfare  of  the  church 
and  the  needs  of  the  state.  Schools  helped  the  church  by  im- 
parting a  correct  training  to  children,  by  making  teachers  of 
the  heads  of  families,  and  by  fitting  Christian  ministers  to 
preach  and  defend  the  gospel.  But  more  than  that  ' '  Society 
for  the  maintenance  of  civil  order  and  the  proper  regulation  of 
the  household  needs  accomplished  men  and  women.  Now 
such  men  are  to  come  from  boys,  and  such  women  from  girls; 
hence  it  is  necessary  that  boys  and  girls  be  properly  taught 
and  brought  up."  Luther  has  perceived  the  truth  which  has 
| become  a  maxim  in  modern  education,  that  the  welfare  of  the 
state  depends  upon  the  intelligence  and  virtue  of  its  citizens. 
As  observation  proved  to  him,  this  vital  interest  could  not  be 
wholly  intrusted  either  to  the  parents  or  to  the  church;  the 
former  would  in  many  cases  neglect  it,  and  the  latter  would 
often  pervert  it.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  in  handing 
over  education  to  the  state,  Luther  did  not  contemplate,  as  will 
be  readily  understood,  a  complete  secularization  of  the  schools, 
but  desired  them  to  have  a  distinctly  Christian  character.  L/uther 
also  held  that  education  should  be  compulsory.1 

We  may  now  summarize  some  of  the  fundamental  principles 
underlying  the  foundation  and  support  of  the  common  schools: 

First.  Religious.  These  principles  have  been  admirably 
expressed  by  Luther,  whose  pedagogical  writings  are  of  great 
interest,  and  exerted  the  largest  influence  upon  education.  The 
whole  spirit  of  the  Reformation,  as  Luther  clearly  saw,  led  to 

classes  of  the  cities  ;  knightly  education  gave  a  training  for  chivalry. 
Thus  the  laboring  classes  were  left  to  toil  on  in  ignorance  and  want ; 
they  remained  in  a  dependent  and  servile  condition,  their  lives  unil- 
lumined  by  intellectual  pleasures.  If  here  and  there,  as  claimed  by 
Roman  Catholic  writers,  popular  schools  were  established,  they  were 
too  few  in  number  and  too  weak  in  influence  to  deserve  more  than 
passing  mention.  Popular  education  was  the  outgrowth  of  the  Refor- 
mation." Luther  on  Education,  Painter. 

1"  I  maintain  that  the  civil  authorities  are  under  obligation  to  com- 
pel the  people  to  send  their  children  to  school,  especially  such  as  are 
promising,  as  has  elsewhere  been  said.  For  our  rulers  are  certainly 
bound  to  maintain  the  spiritual  and  secular  offices  and  callings,  so 
that  there  may  always  be  preachers,  jurists,  pastors,  scribes,  physi- 
cians, schoolmasters,  and  the  like;  for  these  cannot  be  dispensed  with. 
If  the  government  can  compel  such  citizens  as  are  fit  for  military  ser- 
vice to  bear  spear  and  rifle,  to  mount  ramparts  and  perform  other 
martial  duties  in  time  of  war,  how  much  more  has  it  a  right  to  com- 
pel the  people  to  send  their  children  to  school,  because  in  this  case 
we  are  warring  with  the  devil,  whose  object  is  to  secretly  exhaust  our 
cities  and  principalities  of  their  strong  men,  to  destroy  the  kernel  and 
leave  a  shell  of  ignorant  and  helpless  people,  whom  he  can  sport  and 
juggle  with  at  pleasure.  That  is  starving  out  a  city  or  country,  de- 
stroying it  without  a  struggle,  and  without  its  knowledge."  Painter's 
Translation  in  Painter,  Luther  on  Education. 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  25 

the  establishment  of  common  schools  for  the  universal  educa- 
tion of  the  common  people.  Now  that  the  Bible  was  accessi- 
ble to  them,  it  was  above  all  necessary  that  they  should  be 
taught  so  that  they  might  read  the  Bible  for  themselves.  Such 
a  motive  as  this,  of  course,  could  not  be  felt  until  the  Bible  was 
translated  and  accessible.  Thus,  not  only  was  there  furnished 
something  to  read  but  also  the  greatest  possible  incentive  for 
reading  the  material  furnished.  Without  these  two  essentials, 
material  and  incentive,  the  mere  art  of  reading  could  have  little 
value.1 

Second.  The  principle  of  practical  utility.  This  was  first 
felt  in  the  modern  period  when  trade  and  commerce  extended 
their  borders  so  that  a  knowledge  of  reading  and  writing  be- 
came essential  to  success  in  many  lines  of  business.  It  is  to 
this  impulse  that  we  owe  the  founding  of  schools  in  the  Ger- 
man Free  Cities  which  were  the  most  flourishing  commercial 
communities  of  their  time.  Here  in  spite  of  church  opposition 
the  towns  built  up  schools  to  furnish  the  practical  teaching 
necessary  for  preparing  their  young  men  to  meet  the  demand 
in  business  houses. 

These  two  principles,  the  religious  and  the  economic,  con- 
stituted the  bases  upon  which  common  school  education  was 
begun  in  all  the  nations  that  we  have  considered.  This  was 
quite  as  true  in  our  own  country  as  elsewhere.  Of  the  two, 
the  religious  argument  was  by  far  the  more  forcible  and  influ- 
ential. A  consideration  of  this  argument  will  be  found  in  the 
loth  Report  of  Horace  Mann,  published  in  1846.  The  English 
statesman,  Mr.  Lowe,  who  has  been  prominently  identified 
with  educational  reform,  in  alluding  to  the  democratic  move- 
ment now  going  on  in  aristocratic  England,  said  recently,  "It 
is  time  that  our  future  masters  know  how  to  read  and  write. ' ' 

Third.  The  development  of  independence  in  our  own  coun- 
try and  the  spread  of  democratic  ideas  in  England,  Germany 
and  France,  involving  a  considerable  extension  of  the  electoral 
franchise  to  the  people,  has  introduced  a  strong  political  ground 
upon  which  common  schools  may  be  defended.  The  state  is 

1  In  passing,  the  question  may  be  raised  whether  modern  education 
does  not  lay  too  great  emphasis  upon  the  art,  forgetting  the  two 
prime  essentials  of  good  material  and  high  incentive  to  use  that  ma- 
terial. To  merely  teach  children  the  trick  of  reading  without  giving 
them  an  incentive  to  read  and  furnishing  them  with  good  reading  ma- 
terial is  worse  than  a  blunder.  Both  the  incentive  and  the  material 
supplied  by  L/uther  remained  dominant  in  common  school  education 
for  generations.  Martin  remarks  in  his  "  Evolution  of  the  Massachu- 
setts School  System,"  what  a  distinct  detriment  it  was  to  the  moral 
and  intellectual  training  of  a  community  when  for  the  Bible  as  a 
reading  book  there  were  substituted  various  compilations  of  indifferent 
value. 


26  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

after  all  the  sum  total  of  the  individuals  who  compose  it,  and 
cannot  be  essentially  better  than  they  are.  Out  of  this  con- 
ception have  grown  the  great  national  school  systems  of  the 
present  time.  The  most  notable  examples  are  in  Germany, 
where,  following  the  battle  of  Jena,  the  state  deliberately  set 
to  work  to  rebuild  its  strength  through  the  education  of  the 
citizens,  and  in  France  where  we  have  a  similar  phenomenon 
after  the  battle  of  Sedan. 

This  argument  has  two  sides,  one  ethical  and  the  other 
purely  political.  The  ethical  argument  is  this, — that  an  ignor- 
ant people  is  not  so  capable  as  an  educated  people.  Education, 
therefore,  is  essential  to  the  highest  realization  of  national 
ideals.  National  education  is  the  self-realization  of  the  nation. 
The  purely  political  argument  is  that  as  participation  in  gov- 
ernment is  gradually  extended  to  the  people  in  all  states,  edu- 
cation of  the  people  becomes  necessary  for  the  self-preservation 
of  the  state.  When  the  direction  of  government  rests  ulti- 
mately in  the  hands  of  the  people  themselves,  the  purity,  ef- 
fectiveness and  perpetuity  of  that  government  must  be  deter- 
mined in  the  long  run,  and  indeed  very  directly,  by  the 
intelligence  of  the  people.  Education,  then,  in  this  aspect  is  a 
sort  of  national  insurance  policy.  It  may  be  noted  in  passing, 
however,  that  England  furnishes  something  of  an  exception  to 
this  statement,  since  popular  participation  in  government  is 
there  very  extended  and  direct,  while  national  efforts  toward 
education  are  as  yet  incomplete.  In  this  country,  American 
independence  brought  forward  a  new  argument  for  the  com- 
mon school  system  in  the  relation  of  public  education  to  a  re- 
publican government.  Horace  Mann  pointed  out  that  this  to  a 
pure  monarchist  would  be  a  reason  for  destroying  free  schools 
and  not  for  fostering  them.  He  proceeds  in  his  loth  Report  to 
discover  a  broader  ground  for  the  support  of  free  schools,  and 
finally,1  as  describing  the  broad  and  ever  enduring  foundation 
that  must  underlie  a  firm,  strong  and  permanent  system  of 
common  schools,  sets  forth  these  principles: 

(i)  "The  successive  generations  of  men  taken  collectively  consti- 
tute one  great  commonwealth."  (2)  "  The  property  of  this  common- 
wealth is  pledged  for  the  education  of  all  its  youth  up  to  such  a  point 
as  will  save  them  from  poverty  and  vice,  and  prepare  them  for  the 
adequate  performance  of  their  social  and  civil  duties."  (3)  "The  suc- 
cessive holders  of  this  property  are  trustees  bound  to  the  faithful  ex- 
ecution of  their  trust  by  the  most  sacred  obligations,  and  embezzle- 
ment and  pillage  from  children  and  descendants  have  not  less  of 
criminality,  and  have  more  of  meanness,  than  the  same  offences  when 
perpetrated  against  contemporaries." 

This  same  idea  we  find  set  forth  by  Councillor  Siivern  in  the 
first  Prussian  school  law.  Here  the  school  is  divided  into  three 
steps:  First,  a  general  elementary  school;  second,  a  general 


THE   PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  2  7 

city  school;  third,  gymnasia.  These  steps  are,  in  his  words,  to- 
be  considered  as  "  a  single  great  institution  for  national  cul- 
ture." 

The  political  grounds  of  education  are  also  forcibly  expressed 
by  Talleyrand  in  a  report  made  to  the  Constituent  Assembly  in 
1791.  Though  the  report  was  not  adopted  and  the  Constituent 
Assembly  did  little  for  education,  the  ideas  expressed  by  Tal- 
leyrand are  many  of  them  sound  and  give  voice  to  the  wider 
scope  of  education  demanded  by  a  popular  government.  He 
criticises  the  fact  that  instruction  was  refused  to  a  great  ma- 
jority of  the  citizens  whom  indifference  rather  than  premedita- 
tion had  maintained  in  absolute  ignorance.  Voltaire  himself 
had  repeated  again  and  again,  * '  There  always  will  be,  and  it  is 
indispensable  to  the  happiness  of  states  that  there  always 
should  be  an  ignorant  rabble."  Such  education  as  there  was 
was  insufficient,  badly  directed,  spoiled  by  all  sorts  of  preju- 
dices and  deplorable  opinions.  Moreover,  there  was  no  chord 
in  harmony,  even  absolute  opposition  between  what  the  child 
learned  and  what  he  was  expected  to  do  when  he  became  a 
man.  The  constitution  that  they  had  just  adopted  would  be 
sterile  and  a  dead  letter  if  a  preparatory  education  was  not  in- 
stituted to  vivify  it  by  introducing  the  constitution,  so  to  speak, 
into  the  blood  of  the  nation.  "  You  have,"  said  Talleyrand, 
' '  separated  the  general  will  and  power  to  make  laws  from  the 
executive  power  reserved  to  the  King;  but  the  general  will 
must  be  right,  and  that  it  may  be  right  it  must  be  enlight- 
ened and  instructed,  for,  having  given  power  to  a  people  you 
must  teach  it  wisdom.  What  would  be  the  use  of  enfranchis- 
ing and  delivering  over  to  themselves  brutal  and  ignorant 
forces?  Education  is  the  necessary  counterpoise  of  liberty. 
Law,  therefore,  to  be  the  work  of  the  people  must  not  be  at 
the  mercy  of  the  tumultuous  opinions  of  an  ignorant  multitude. 
Instruction  is  due  to  all;  there  must  be  schools,  consequently , 
in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  in  the  smallest  village  as  well  as  in 
the  most  populous  city.  Instruction  must  be  given  by  all;  no- 
order,  no  association  shall  have  the  exclusive  privilege  of  teach- 
ing. In  a  well-organized  society,  although  no  one  can  attain  all 
wisdom,  nevertheless  it  must  be  possible  to  learn  everything." 
Women  are  to  share  in  the  benefits  of  instruction,  so  there 
shall  be  schools  for  the  two  sexes.1 

Fourth.  The  utility  of  common  school  education  as  a  sort 
of  moral  police  force  is  a  phase  of  the  question  which  has  re- 
ceived much  attention.  "The  instruction  of  the  people  is  the 
most  urgent  and  most  important  question  of  our  times,"  says 

1  See  Compayre',  Doctrines  of  Education,  Vol.  II. 


28  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

De  Laveleye,1  and  here  he  apparently  means  education  for  the 
purpose  of  reducing  the  amount  of  vice  and  crime  in  the  com- 
munity and  raising  the  general  moral  status.  ' '  Educational 
defects,"  says  Henderson,  "are  to  be  charged  with  a  great 
part  of  the  cost  of  pauperism.  The  mere  absence  of  kindergar- 
tens, kitchengardens,  sloyd,  manual  training  and  technical 
schools,  is  a  source  of  social  peril."2 

There  are  people  even  yet  who  persist  in  believing  that 
education  is,  if  not  actually  pernicious,  at  least  useless.  Some 
accuse  it  of  exalting  pride,  emboldening  imagination  and 
passion,  in  a  word,  of  perverting  the  people  by  suppressing  the 
ignorance  of  past  days.  Others  claim  that  it  does  not  have  the 
moral  effectiveness  attributed  to  it,  and  that  we  make  a  great 
mistake  in  depending  upon  it  for  preserving  order  and  public 
peace,  and  increasing  uprightness  and  virtue  among  men.  No 
doubt  the  influence  of  instruction  upon  customs  has  sometimes 
been  exaggerated.  We  cannot  say  with  the  artless  fanatics  that 
every  man  who  knows  how  to  read  is  a  saved  man;  still  less 
shall  we  hold,  with  certain  alarmists,  that  every  man  who  knows 
how  to  read  is  a  lost  man.  When  it  has  been  shown  that  the 
assassin  or  criminal  had  received  some  literary  education,  or 
that  a  thief  had  gone  to  school,  immediately  passion  takes  pos- 
session of  these  isolated  facts  to  decide  arbitrarily  that  instruc- 
tion is  responsible  for  all  evil  deeds.  It  is  sufficient,  however, 
to  consult  the  criminal  statistics  to  assure  ourselves  of  the  con- 
trary, and  to  establish  by  the  imposing  authority  of  facts  that 
the  number  of  crimes  diminishes  with  the  progress  of  instruc- 
tion. Assassinations  which  had  varied  between  200  and  267  a 
year  from  1826  to  1858  in  France,  have  decreased  since  then  to 
from  192  to  158.  The  diminution  in  that  country  is  still  more 
noticeable  in  murders  and  thefts,  which  have  decreased  by  al- 
most one-half.  No  doubt,  other  causes  contributed  to  this  im- 
provement, but  there  is  no  doubt,  also,  that  a  good  part  of 
this  is  due  to  instruction.  This  is  shown  by  the  proportion 
which  exists  in  the  criminal  lists  between  the  number  of  illit- 
erates and  the  number  of  educated  people.  In  1851,  for  ex- 
ample, of  a  hundred  accused  of  crimes,  there  were  only  thir- 
teen educated  people,  of  whom  five  alone  had  higher  education. 
In  1863,  of  over  a  hundred  criminals,  thirty-eight  could  neither 
read  nor  write,  and  forty-three  only  imperfectly.  These  figures 
are  all  for  France.  An  abundant  array  of  figures  from  other 
countries  might  be  brought  to  bear  upon  this  same  point, 
proving  that  vice  and  crime  coincide  more  frequently  with 
ignorance  than  with  education. 

il/Instruction  du  Peuple,  Paris,  1872. 

2  An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Dependent,  Defective  and  De- 
linquent Classes,  by  C.  R.  Henderson. 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  29 

Fifth.  Changed  economic  conditions,  chiefly  resulting  from 
division  of  labor,  produce  conditions  which  demand  a  special- 
ized instrument  for  the  performance  of  educative  work  formerly 
cared  for  by  the  home.  In  earlier  times  the  artisan  carried  on 
his  craft  in  a  room  attached  to  his  home,  where  he  worked 
alone  or  with  his  assistants.  The  mother  and  other  women 
members  of  the  family  spun  wool  and  wove  cloth,  and  in  their 
turn  carried  on  economic  processes  of  some  intricacy  and  great 
educative  value.  The  child,  thrown  during  the  entire  day  not 
only  into  contact  with  his  parents  but  also  into  contact  with 
these  industrial  processes,  secured  by  force  of  circumstances  a 
large  amount  of  manual  training  and  instruction.  If  we  take 
the  old-fashioned  farm  the  case  is  even  better.  By  a  definite 
computation  over  sixty  distinct  economic  processes  were  carried 
on  about  the  farm.  These  with  their  constant  associations  made 
the  farm  one  of  the  best  schools  that  the  world  has  seen. 

The  economic  conditions  which  have  resulted  in  the  build- 
ing up  of  large  cities  have  changed  this  situation  absolutely. 
The  father's  work,  in  whatever  sphere  of  activity  he  is  em- 
ployed, frequently  calls  him  from  home  during  almost  the  en- 
tire waking  life  of  the  child.  In  one  social  grade  the  mother 
is  also  frequently  from  home  at  work,  and  in  a  higher  grade  is 
largely  wrapped  up  in  social  duties  which  remove  her  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  from  intimate  contact  with  her  family.  The  train- 
ing of  the  young  must  therefore  be  delegated  to  a  class  of  ex- 
perts organized  in  a  specific  institutional  way.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  to  bring  the  discussion  to  the  low  level  of  reality,  it  cannot 
be  doubted  that  in  the  minds  of  a  large  number  of  people  the 
school  is  chiefly  valuable  because  it  does  relieve  them  during 
long  periods  of  time  of  the  care  of  children.  The  burden  thus 
thrown  upon  the  school  as  a  specialized  instrument  tends  to 
become  continually  heavier,  particularly  in  large  cities.  The 
vacation  school  movement  is  a  good  indication  of  this  fact. 
These  schools  exist  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  taking  care  of  the 
children  of  the  poor  districts  during  the  summer  months. 

Sixth.  Common  schools  owe  much  to  the  development  of 
the  idea  of  individuality,  the  conception  of  the  worth  of  the  in- 
dividual. This  is  a  product  of  the  religious  ideas  springing 
from  the  Reformation  and  of  the  political  ideas  growing  out  of 
modern  democracy.  Not  only  is  the  individual  of  value  as  a 
member  of  society,  as  a  part  of  the  state,  but  in  and  for  him- 
self he  possesses  all  the  possibilities  which  should  be  realized  to 
the  uttermost.  It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  this  is  an  idealistic 
basis  of  the  common  school  education,  and  yet  it  is  not  far  re- 
moved from  the  views  of  so  practical  a  worker  in  this  field  as 
Horace  Mann. 


3O  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

VII. 

SOME  SPECIAL  PROBLEMS  OP  THE  COMMON  SCHOOLS. 

Although  the  most  fundamental  and  all-embracing  in  its 
scope,  the  common  school  was  the  last  of  the  great  divisions  of 
education  to  be  fully  organized.  The  universities  brought  with 
them  the  necessity  of  preparatory  schools,  so  that  secondary 
institutions  grew  up  about  the  universities  long  before  common 
schools  began  to  occupy  men's  attention.  It  is  now  true  that 
the  common  schools  are  entrenched  firmly  in  the  legislation 
and  in  the  traditions  of  all  the  great  culture  nations.  Though 
they  may  undergo  modifications,  there  is  little  danger  of  their 
meeting  serious  and  effective  opposition  in  their  work,  except  in 
sporadic  instances. 

The  common  schools  have  some  problems  of  organization 
peculiarly  their  own,  different,  it  is  true,  in  different  countries 
which  we  have  under  consideration.  One  of  the  most  import- 
ant of  these  is  their  relation  to  the  schools  immediately  follow- 
ing them.  The  common  school  has  two  distinct  functions:  first, 
to  meet  all  of  the  requirements  specified  in  the  above  analysis 
of  the  grounds  for  supporting  common  schools,  that  is,  in  gen- 
eral, to  give  in  a  limited  number  of  years  the  best  "  fit  "  pos- 
sible for  all  children;  and,  second,  to  prepare  a  certain  number 
of  children  for  the  next  higher  grade  of  education  beyond  the 
common  schools. 

Now  this  higher  grade  of  education  connects  with  the  com- 
mon schools  at  different  points;  in  the  United  States  at  the  top, 
in  Germany  at  the  end  of  the  third  year  of  the  common  schools, 
in  England  in  a  very  irregular  way,  in  France  at  the  end  of 
the  seventh  year  of  the  common  schools.  The  question  that 
here  arises  is:  Should  there  be  the  same  common  school  educa- 
tion up  to  a  certain  point  for  all  pupils  of  school  age,  or  should 
there  be  specialized  preparatory  instruction  for  those  pupils 
who  are  to  enter  higher  schools  at  any  given  point  ?  This  is 
at  present  not  exactly  a  burning  question  in  the  United  States, 
but  it  is  a  question  of  considerable  importance  in  Germany. 
The  universal  foundation  school,  as  we  may  call  it,  covers  but 
three  years  in  Germany,  five  years  in  Austria,  four  years  in 
Basel  in  Switzerland,  six  years  in  Zurich,  seven  years  in 
France,  and  eight  years  in  the  United  States.  In  Germany  the 
universal  foundation  school  is  opposed  to  what  is  called  the 
Vorschule,  the  latter  being  the  product  of  North  Germany, 
while  the  universal  common  school  is  the  general  form  in  South 
Germany,  particularly  in  Bavaria.  This  question,  as  just  said, 
is  a  burning  question  in  Germany,  and  therefore  a  brief 
resume"  of  the  arguments  for  and  against  the  universal  school 
may  be  in  place,  particularly  as  these  same  arguments  apply 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  31 

to  a  large  extent  in  the  field  of  secondary  education  where  the 
question  is  just  now  a  burning  one  with  us. 

The  argument  for  a  universal  school  is  both  a  social  and  a 
political  one.  In  Germany,  the  separation  between  the  different 
classes  and  callings  and,  consequently,  the  lack  of  mutual  un- 
derstanding, has  already  gone  so  far  as  to  cause  fear  of  danger 
as  to  the  cohesiveness  of  the  people.  The  organization  of  the 
school  ought  to  work  against  the  establishment  of  such  lines  of 
cleavage;  certainly,  the  school  should  not  operate  to  increase 
the  separation  which  other  circumstances  tend  to  produce.  If 
the  school  cannot  overcome  these  inner  lines  of  cleavage,  yet  it 
by  all  means  should  not  artificially  strengthen  the  differences 
that  exist.  Professor  Rein  compares  the  whole  system  of  cul- 
ture to  a  strong  tree  with  many  branches,  the  trunk  being 
formed  of  the  universal  common  school.  In  this  universal 
school  is  expressed  the  thought  that  the  whole  culture  of  the 
people  must  form  an  organism,  through  which  different  mem- 
bers are  united  to  each  other.  This  organism  is  not  to  be  built 
up  according  to  classes  or  according  to  wealth,  but  solely  ac- 
cording to  the  aims  and  steps  of  education  which  are  determined 
by  the  national  life.1  The  Prussian  Minister  of  Education,  Dr. 
Bosse,  says  ' '  there  are  great  advantages  in  sending  children 
first  of  all  into  the  universal  common  school,  and  very  great 
disadvantages  in  separating  children  through  the,  Vorschule 
into  classes,  and  dividing  them  in  their  views  of  life  at  a  time 
when  they  are  not  ripe  for  this  and  when  no  special  need  for  it 
exists. ' '  In  other  words,  it  is  a  good  thing  for  children  out  of 
different  classes  to  form  friendships,  as  they  readily  do,  which 
last  until  their  later  years,  and  tend  to  a  better  understanding 
on  both  sides. 

Again,  the  universal  common  school  is  demanded  in  order 
that  the  general  respect  for  the  common  school  may  not  be  les- 
sened. If  the  middle  and  higher  classes  take  their  children  out 
of  the  common  schools  these  are  more  or  less  degraded  to  the 
rank  of  poor  schools.  This  was  really  the  condition  of  affairs 
in  Massachusetts  when  Horace  Mann  began  his  work.  Some 
thought  it  futile,  some  undesirable  to  attempt  to  elevate  the 
masses.  "  As  one  objector  put  it,  the  British  government  was 
the  best  in  the  world;  classes  were  essential  to  society;  some 
should  be  cultivated  and  refined,  but  others  would  meet  their 
ends  in  toil  and  suffering  in  living  and  dying  in  vulgarity. 
Such  views  as  these  were  thoroughly  abhorrent  to  Horace 
Mann.  His  political  principles  were  in  complete  accord  with 
his  moral  sentiments.  He  was  a  democrat  in  the  best  sense 

1  W.  Rein  :  Article  "  Volkschule,"  in  Encyc.  Handbuch  der  Pada- 
gogik. 


n    r     ^V 

A 
;V£RSITY  J 

MLiFOH^ 


32  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

of  that  term.  He  believed  that  the  separation  of  the  children 
of  the  state  in  the  period  of  education, — some  attending  the 
vulgar  public  schools,  while  others  go  to  the  select  private 
schools, — was  a  kind  of  treason  to  American  principles ;  and 
one  of  the  grand  features  of  the  educational  reform  to  be 
wrought,  as  it  shaped  itself  to  his  imagination,  was  the  restora- 
tion of  the  common  schools  to  their  former  honorable  estate. 
His  wish  was  to  restore  the  good  old  custom  of  having  the  rich 
and  the  poor  educated  together;  and  for  that  end  he  desired  to 
make  the  public  schools  as  good  as  schools  could  be  made,  so 
that  the  line  dividing  the  rich  and  the  poor  might  not  neces- 
sarily be  coincident  with  that  dividing  the  educated  and  the 
ignorant." 

The  opposition  to  this  universal  school  in  Germany,  at  least, 
presents  the  following  grounds:  First,  children  from  different 
ranks  in  society  have  different  capacities.  Those  from  the  well- 
to-do  and  intellectual  are  brighter,  and  should  not  be  kept 
back  on  account  of  the  duller  ones.  In  the  second  place,  par- 
ents of  the  so-called  better  class  do  not  wish  to  send  their  chil- 
dren into  the  common  schools  because  they  must  there  sit  by 
the  side  of  laborer's  children  of  whom  they  can  learn  nothing 
good.  The  Prussian  Finance  Minister,  Hobrecht,  says  upon 
this  point:  "  I  have  noticed  that  parents  out  of  the  so-called 
better  circles  send  their  children  into  the  common  schools  and 
are  not  deterred  therefrom  by  the  fact  that  the  children  of  the 
proletariat  sit  beside  their  children,  and  the  fear  that  social  re- 
lations with  children  of  the  poorest  classes,  who  are  often  un- 
cared  for  at  home,  will  work  disadvantageously,  has  proved 
itself  in  a  short  time  to  be  entirely  wrong  and  mistaken.  On 
the  contrary,  it  has  been  shown  that  the  moral  and  favorable 
influence  that  the  better  brought  up  children  have  exercised 
upon  the  poorer  ones  is  so  overwhelmingly  preponderant  that 
every  influence  opposed  to  it  entirely  disappears."2 

Professor  Rein  states  certain  conditions  which  are  neces- 
sary for  the  proper  success  of  this  universal  school.  First  of 
all  the  overcrowding  of  school  classes  must  be  remedied.  The 
Vorschule  has  a  great  advantage  in  this  respect.  The  smaller 
number  of  pupils  is  often  what  attracts  parents.  The  lower 
classes  in  the  common  schools  have  often  from  sixty  to  eighty 
children,  while  those  in  the  Vorschule  have  between  twenty 
and  thirty.  In  the  second  place,  the  universal  common  school 
which  now  in  Germany  has  generally  three  and  at  times  four 
years,  must  be  extended  to  at  least  four,  and  whenever  possi- 
ble, to  five  years.  This  for  two  reasons,  (a)  If  the  social  ad- 

JB.  A.  Hinsdale  :  "  Horace  Mann  and  the  Common  School  Revival 
in  the  United  States,"  pp.  118-19. 

2Encyc.  Handbuch  der  Padagogik,  Vol.  VII,  p.  463. 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  33 

vantages  coming  from  the  association  of  children  of  different 
ranks  are  to  amount  to  anything,  there  must  be  a  sufficient 
period  of  time;  and,  (b)  it  is  impossible  to  determine  with  cer- 
tainty for  what  further  career  the  child  is  suited  with  less  than 
five  3rears  common  preparation. 

Such  a  statement  as  that  certainly  appears  very  modest  to 
us,  but  it  is  a  somewhat  radical  position  for  a  German  to  take. 
We  are  not  to  overlook  the  fact  that  these  arguments  against 
the  common  schools  have  had  a  large  weight  of  influence,  and 
still  decide  parents  in  favor  of  private  schools,  even  in  our  own 
country. 

If  the  common  school  has  an  unsettled  problem  in  the 
question  of  its  articulation  to  the  school  that  follows  it,  it 
has  another  problem  in  its  relation  to  the  life  that  precedes  it. 
When  shall  the  state-supported  school  take  the  child  into  its 
charge  ?  This  question  is  generally  answered  in  the  compul- 
sory attendance  laws  and  in  child  labor  legislation.  It  is  not 
without  significance  that  of  the  thirty  states  of  the  United 
States  having  compulsory  attendance  laws  only  one  makes  the 
compulsory  period  begin  at  six  years  of  age,  while  the  great 
majority  begin  the  compulsory  period  only  with  the  eighth 
year  of  the  child's  age.  The  establishment  of  public  kinder- 
gartens in  Germany  and  the  United  States,  and  the  maternal 
schools  of  France,  which  are  practically  identical  with  the 
"  Mother  School  "  of  which  Comenius  dreamed,  are  attempts 
at  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  child  training  previous  to  the 
formal  work  of  the  common  school.  All  these  various  signs 
and  portents  seem  to  unite  in  foreshadowing  the  general  post- 
ponement of  formal,  legal  school  attendance  to  a  more  advanced 
age  than  that  which  has  had  general  approval  during  the 
organizing  stage  of  the  school  system. 

VIII. 
SECONDARY  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

In  secondary  education  we  reach  a  more  debatable  territory. 
Two  quite  antagonistic  doctrines  prevail  in  regard  to  sec- 
ondary instruction.  That  it  is  for  a  special  class  only,  not  neces- 
sarily free,  and  designed  to  prepare  specifically  for  some  higher 
career  is  the  older  view,  everywhere  prevalent  half  a  century 
or  less  ago,  and  still  dominant  in  the  states  of  Europe.  From 
this  standpoint  the  duty  of  the  state  toward  education  fully 
ceases  when  common  school  instruction  has  been  provided,  and 
advanced  education  should  be  procured  at  parental  expense. 
That  secondary  education  should  be  free  and  accessible  to  all, 
should  reach  as  many  as  possible,  and  should  aim  to  give  a 
certain  amount  of  additional  instruction  of  the  best  nature  pos- 

3 


34          THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

sible  to  all  who  have  the  leisure  to  obtain  it,  is  the  more  mod- 
ern view  that  underlies  the  public  high  school  in  the  United 
States.  These  two  theories  of  secondary  education  are  incom- 
patible in  the  same  national  system.1  Where  the  latter  view 
prevails,  as  in  the  United  States,  the  former  is  represented,  or 
at  least  is  generally  considered  to  be  represented,  by  private 
schools  of  different  kinds.  These  two  ideas  do  therefore  exist 
side  by  side,  but  they  have  not  been,  and  probably  cannot  be 
incorporated  together  into  a  national  school  system. 

It  is  largely  if  not  altogether  on  account  of  these  different 
views  that  we  do  not  find  the  period  of  secondary  education 
conforming  in  its  space  and  time  limits  in  the  different  coun- 
tries. Under  the  first  view,  that  it  is  for  a  special  class  and  to 
prepare  for  specific  careers  in  life,  the  pupil  must  be  caught 
early  and  segregated  from  the  masses;  so  we  find  the  period  of 
secondary  education  beginning  in  Germany  at  an  early  age. 
This  view  is  much  less  prevalent  in  France,  and  the  different 
divisions  of  secondary  education  there  rest  upon  a  common 
foundation  up  to  the  sixth  class,  that  is,  to  the  beginning  of 
the  eleventh  year.  It  is,  however,  only  in  the  United  States 
where  the  second  view  fully  prevails,  that  we  find  secon- 
dary education  joining  itself  to  a  uniform  preliminary  course 
and  beginning  at  a  somewhat  advanced  period. 

It  may  be  noticed  in  passing  that  there  are  disadvantages  in 
this  arrangement  of  secondary  education  in  the  United  States 
which  are  not  felt  under  the  arrangement  in  France  or  Ger- 
many. Covering  only  the  short  period  of  time  between  the 
close  of  the  grammar  school  course  and  the  beginning  of  the 
college  course,  secondary  education  in  our  country  is  subject 
to  pressure  from  both  sides.  The  whole  process  of  differentia- 
tion which  takes  place  in  France  and  Germany  either  at  a  very 
early  age  or  progressively,  in  the  United  States  is  thrown  en- 
tirely into  the  secondary  schools.  Here  the  pupil  must  decide, 
or  some  one  must  decide  for  him,  whether  or  not  he  is  to  go 
later  to  the  college  or  university,  and  this  decision  in  itself  is 
an  important  one  for  the  school  work  since  it  determines 
whether  the  pupil's  course  of  study  is  to  be  dominated  by  col- 
lege entrance  requirements,  by  the  needs  of  some  business,  or 
by  the  purpose  to  attain  the  most  liberal  culture  possible  within 
the  time  limits. 

If  the  pupil  has  decided  to  go  to  a  higher  school,  then  the  fur- 
ther question  arises  which  school  shall  he  enter  ?  As  the  require- 
ments for  admission  to  different  schools  have  been  varied, 

xln  the  country  where  the  first  view  is  most  strongly  held,  Germany, 
secondary  education  is  not  a  recognized  division  but  is  included  in 
higher  education. 


THE   PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  35 

the  settlement  of  this  question  is  again  a  great  difficulty  to 
school  authorities.  If  the  recommendations  in  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  College  Entrance  Requirements  are  generally 
adopted,  much  of  this  difficulty  will  be  removed.  The  sec- 
ondary teacher  in  any  given  school  in  Germany  or  in  any 
given  class  in  France  has  a  great  advantage  over  the  secondary 
teacher  in  the  United  States  in  knowing  precisely  what  the 
pupil  is  aiming  at.  There  need  be  no  hesitation  as  to  the  method 
and  subjects.  These  are,  indeed,  prescribed,  the  career  of 
the  pupil  is  fully  marked  out,  and  the  great  work  of  sifting 
pupils  for  different  careers  in  life  is  taken  entirely  off  the  hands 
of  the  secondary  teacher. 

We  have  seen  that  one  of  the  great  achievements  of  this  cen- 
tury in  common  school  education  has  been  making  it  free.  We 
find  a  contrast  to  this  in  secondary  education,  which  is  not 
free  in  any  of  the  foreign  countries  we  have  been  studying.  In 
Germany  the  fees  of  secondary  schools  are  very  considerable, 
for  example,  in  the  catalogue  of  the  Berlin  Gymnasium  zum 
grauen  Kloster,  the  statement  is  made  that  the  school  fees 
amount  to  100  marks,  or  about  $25  a  year,  to  be  paid  quar- 
terly. The  amount  is  sometimes  more  than  this.  In  France 
the  tuition  at  the  lycee  varies  from  80  to  200  francs,  added  to 
which,  of  course,  is  the  cost  of  board  which  amounts,  in  the  high- 
est division  of  the  I/ycee  I^ouis  le  Grand,  for  example,  to  1,500 
francs.  In  England  the  cost  at  the  great  public  schools,  which 
furnish  all  the  secondary  education  worth  mentioning  in  that 
country,  is  much  greater.  At  Eton  the  cost  is  about  ^200  a 
year,  including  board.  It  is,  therefore,  only  in  the  United 
States  that  free  secondary  education  is  provided.  Upon  what 
grounds  are  we  justified  in  providing  such  free  secondary 
education  ? 

An  interesting  answer  to  this  question  is  given  by  Frank  A. 
Hill,  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Education.1 
From  his  first  argument  I  quote  the  following: 

"And  so  freedom  of  choice,  when  the  question  of  what  one's  life 
work  shall  be  comes  up,  is  a  basic  thing  in  government  by  the  people. 
Upon  the  wisdom  of  this  choice  turns  the  welfare  of  each  unit  in  the 
state  and  therefore  of  the  state  itself.  So  vital  is  the  connection  be- 
tween the  individual's  choice  and  the  state's  integrity,  so  essential  to 
wisdom  of  choice  is  one's  awakening  ito  his  own  capacity  and  one's 
vision  of  the  prizes  that  are  possible  to  such  awakening,  that  no  state 
can  afford  to  suffer  its  children  or  any  portion  of  them  to  grow  up 
without  this  revelation  of  themselves  to  themselves  and  without  this 
stimulus  from  the  splendid  visions  of  a  larger  usefulness  and  a  finer 
happiness. 

"And  so  the  total  result  of  the  process  when  people  in  general  try 

1  How  far  is  the  Public  High  School  a  Just  Charge  upon  the  Public 
Treasury?  School  Review,  Vol.  VI,  p.  746. 


36  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

to  make  something  of  the  opportunities  which  are  theirs  under  a  wise 
government  of  their  own  is  an  uplift  of  the  state  through  an  enlarge- 
ment and  stimulus  of  the  state.  It  is  the  essence  of  democracy — this 
freedom  of  intelligent  initiative  and  push  by  the  individual  along  the 
lines  of  his  taste  or  capacity,  a  freedom  that  permits  him  to  rise  from 
the  lower  plane  to  the  higher,  if  he  can  and  will.  So  good  a  thing  is 
such  freedom  for  the  individual  and,  therefore,  for  the  state,  that  the 
public  should  spare  no  pains  to  keep  the  avenues  of  ascent  open.  If 
free  public  education  of  a  high  order  keeps  these  avenues  open — and 
with  all  its  imperfections  it  seems  the  wisest  scheme  for  this  purpose 
that  human  ingenuity  has  yet  succeeded  in  devising — that  settles  the 
wisdom  of  having  it." 

The  importance  of  this  freedom  of  choice  becomes  more  strik- 
ing when  compared  with  the  situation  in  France  and  Germany. 
There  the  choice  is  made  forever  at  an  early  age.  This  choice 
once  made,  there  can  be  no  variableness  or  shadow  of  turning. 
Either  the  child  is  elected  to  belong  to  the  classes,  or  doomed 
to  remain  with  the  masses;  and  as  secondary  schools  are  pay 
schools,  the  choice  depends  primarily  not  upon  talent  or  intel- 
lectual ability,  but  upon  the  financial  ability  of  the  parents. 
This  fact  is  recognized  by  German  educators.  It  is  only  re- 
cently, indeed,  that  the  common  schools  of  Germany  have  been 
free  and  have  ceased  to  foster  class  distinctions.  Even  yet,  as 
we  have  seen  in  our  discussion  of  the  universal  common  school, 
there  is  in  the  organization  of  these  common  schools  enough  of 
differentiation  left  to  cause  serious  discussion.  It  will  there- 
fore be  some  time  at  least  before  any  reorganization  of  their 
higher  schools  doing  away  with  class  distinctions  can  be 
looked  for.  In  France  the  continual  struggle  that  has  been 
going  on  to  postpone  the  period  of  bifurcation  in  the  higher 
schools,  and  the  very  slight  difference  that  exists  in  the  priv- 
ileges which  the  different  diplomas  open  up  to  their  holders, 
clearly  show  the  appreciation  of  this  danger  in  that  country 
and  the  movement  towards  its  remedy. 

Another  argument  in  favor  of  the  high  school  is  that  it 
exerts  a  powerful  stimulus  for  good  upon  the  schools  below. 
Again  I  quote  from  Dr.  Hill,  who  has  stated  this  point  so  well 
that  it  is  hopeless  to  attempt  a  better  statement: 

"  One  well  recognized  and  valuable  fact  is  this,  that  the  high  school 
exerts  a  powerful  stimulus  for  good  upon  the  schools  below.  It  holds 
up  before  the  young  ideals  of  higher  and  broader  scholarship  ;  it  is 
the  gateway  to  otherwise  inaccessible  realms  beyond  ;  it  appeals  to 
the  ambition  of  the  young  ;  it  appeals  to  this  ambition  at  a  critical 
time  when  it  is  important  that  inferior  ambitions  shall  be  forestalled  ; 
it  is  a  golden  strand  in  that  interest  which  holds  the  young  up  to 
scholarly  endeavor.  It  fits  in  with  the  thought  that  noble  inspiration 
comes  from  above,  not  from  below,  that  normal  children  respond 
better,  not  when  they  are  pushed  from  beneath,  but  when  they  are 
drawn  from  on  high.  The  longing  for  higher  things  thus  aroused,  the 
children  do  better  work  in  the  lower  schools  ;  they  are  more  readily 
guided  ;  they  hold  to  a  definite  course  more  steadily.  Indeed,  it  is  as 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  37 

true  of  the  mind  as  of  any  ship  that  sails  the  seas  that  it  must  have 
momentum  to  obey  its  helm.  If  this  ambition  to  attend  the  high 
school  is,  in  some  measure,  imitative — a  mere  spirit  to  do  as  others 
do — it  is,  in  a  larger  measure,  a  spirit  to  study  for  study's  sake  or 
for  the  rewards  that  study  brings.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that 
school  committees,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  should  bear  witness 
to  the  bracing  influence  of  a  good  high  school  upon  the  grades  below, 
experience  thus  confirming  what  theory  would  lead  one  to  expect." 

That  this  is  not  a  merely  sentimental  argument,  all  educa- 
tional history  shows.  The  universities  have  stimulated  the 
secondary  schools,  and  the  secondary  schools  again  have 
reached  the  schools  below  them.  This  movement  is  nowhere 
better  exemplified  than  in  our  own  country  The  higher 
schools  exert  no  such  stimulating  effect  upon  the  lower  schools 
in  Germany,  or,  indeed,  in  France.  There  this  intellectual 
stimulus  is  replaced  by  compulsory  laws  and  by  the  special 
prizes  in  the  way  of  desirable  careers  in  life  that  may  be  won 
only  through  the  higher  schools. 

Here,  however,  comes  in  the  question  as  to  the  good  or  ill 
effect,  the  advantage  or  disadvantage  of  this  clear  distinction 
into  elementary,  secondary  and  higher  education.  The  growth 
of  man  is,  after  all,  a  continuous  process,  and  the  development 
of  the  individual  is  an  organic  evolution.  Any  arbitrary  sub- 
division of  the  periods  of  education  tends  to  destroy  the  con- 
ception of  this  unity,  and,  furthermore,  tends  inevitably  to  de- 
velop the  spirit  of  class  distinction.  More  than  this,  what  Mr. 
Hill  calls  4<  the  seductive  pause  "  between  the  grammar  school 
and  the  high  school,  the  fact  that  at  this  particular  point  such 
a  large  number  of  pupils  leave  school,  that  only  a  few  either 
can  or  will  go  on  to  the  higher  school,  tends  to  break  down 
educational  unity  and  weakens  the  hold  of  the  higher  school 
upon  the  people.  The  reservation  of  a  select  few  precious 
branches  of  knowledge  for  the  higher  schools  without  even  al- 
lowing the  lower  schools  a  taste  of  them  not  only  tends  to 
create  an  aristocracy  of  learning,  but  also  robs  the  lower 
schools  of  treasures  that  rightfully  belong  to  them.  The  more 
a  school  system  is  regarded  as  an  organic  whole  the  less 
chance  there  will  be  for  public  opposition  to  paying  money  for 
secondary  education. 

The  conditions  for  admission  to  the  secondary  schools  of  the 
different  countries  are  apparently  somewhat  vague.  I  do  not 
find,  for  example,  in  the  catalogues  that  I  have  examined  of 
the  German  Gymnasia,  any  definite  statement  of  requirements. 
A  statement  made  in  one  programme  is  as  follows:  The  ex- 
amination and  reception  of  new  students  will  take  place  on  a 
certain  day,  scholars  will  present  testimonials  of  dismissal 
from  the  school  that  they  have  visited  before,  as  well  as  a  cer- 
tificate of  vaccination.  The  entrance  requirements  are  natur- 


38  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

ally  much  simpler  and  admit  of  less  formulation  where  the  child 
enters  the  secondary  school  at  an  early  age.  In  the  United 
States  there  has  been  some  conflict  over  the  question  of  admis- 
sion to  the  high  school,  one  party  adhering  vigorously  to  an 
entrance  examination,  the  other  party  willing  to  admit  on  cer- 
tificate from  the  lower  school.  The  latter  practice  now  gener- 
ally prevails.  In  European  countries,  without  exception,  the 
egress  from  higher  educational  institutions  is  much  more  care- 
fully guarded  than  the  ingress  to  those  institutions.  It  is 
comparatively  easy  to  get  in,  but  hard  to  get  out  with  a  certifi- 
cate or  degree. 

The  reasons  why  pupils  attend  secondary  schools  are  heredi- 
tary, social,  economic,  ethical.  Parents  who  have  enjoyed  a 
certain  education  themselves  and  occupy  a  certain  social  posi- 
tion quite  naturally  desire  that  their  children  should  follow  in 
the  same  path.  How  much  of  the  child's  own  tendency  in  that 
direction  depends  upon  heredity  and  how  much  upon  its  con- 
stant environment  from  earliest  days  is  a  question.  A  certain 
number  of  people,  also,  always  covet  the  best  things  because 
they  are  best.  The  desire  for  a  higher  education  springing 
from  a  thirst  for  knowledge  is  not  so  uncommon  in  the  period 
of  adolescence  as  pessimistic  valetudinarians  would  sometimes 
have  us  believe.  These  two  influences,  the  hereditary  and  the 
social,  are  forceful  in  varying  degree  in  all  peoples.  The  social 
reason  has  been  most  strongly  felt  in  the  older  civilizations 
where  rank  and  caste  have  come  to  be  somewhat  definitely  de- 
fined. The  attendance  upon  the  higher  schools  in  Germany, 
for  example,  is  practically  the  privilege  of  the  aristocratic  few. 
Certainly,  those  who  possess  a  higher  education  are  forever 
marked  off  by  social  boundary  lines  from  those  who  do  not 
possess  that  advantage.  The  economic  reason  for  pursuing 
higher  studies  lies  in  the  fact  that  these  constitute  the  gateway 
to  the  professions,  and,  in  foreign  countries,  to  the  higher 
posts  in  the  civil  service,  in  short,  to  what  are  considered  the 
most  desirable  occupations  of  life  outside  of  trade  and  com- 
merce, and  even  there  a  higher  education  is  demanded  for  the 
better  class  of  positions. 

IX. 

DIFFERENTIATION  IN  THE  SECONDARY  SCHOOL. 

We  have  seen  that  the  elementary  schools,  in  Germany  es- 
pecially, have  a  problem  of  their  own  as  to  whether  there  shall 
be  one  universal  elementary  school,  which,  so  far  as  it  goes, 
shall  be  attended  by  all  scholars,  or  whether  there  shall  be  a 
separate  preparatory  school  for  those  who  are  going  into  the 
higher  schools.  In  secondary  education  this  problem  becomes 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  39 

far  more  complex.  The  time  obviously  must  come  when  stu- 
dents will  differentiate  according  to  (a)  the  professions  or 
careers  in  life  which  are  picked  for  them  by  their  parents;  or 
(b)  their  own  natural  aptitude  and  predilections. 

Where  the  secondary  school  has  a  long  course  and  begins  at 
an  early  age,  as  in  Germany,  the  choice,  which  must  be  made 
by  the  parents,  is  in  no  small  measure  determined  by  pecuniary 
ability  to  pay  the  fees.  The  postponement  of  this  choice  to 
such  an  age  as  will  enable  the  aptitudes  and  endowments  of 
the  student  to  be  taken  into  consideration  has  been  a  matter 
of  serious  consideration  by  the  educational  world. 

What  fills  the  place  of  secondary  education  in  Germany  has 
been  well  and  often  described,  best  of  all  by  Russell  in  his  Ger- 
man Higher  Schools.  There  is  a  complete  "  trifurcation," 
shown  in  three  distinct  institutions:  the  Gymnasium,  ancient 
and  classical,  the  Oberrealschule,  modern  and  scientifically  dis- 
posed, and  the  Realgymnasium,  a  half-way-between  affair, 
would-be  mutual  friend,  but  really  mutual  enemy.  Bach  type 
has  a  nine  year's  course,  and  each  is  planned  to  catch  the  pupil 
when  he  is  nine  years  old.  Once  started  in  any  one  of  them 
the  pupil  has  no  chance  worth  considering  to  switch  over  into 
either  of  the  others.  Often  there  is  only  one  type  of  school  in 
a  given  locality,  the  three  courses  never  being  found  under  the 
same  roof. 

Six  years  in  any  one  of  these  schools  gives  the  right  to  the  one 
year  so-called  "volunteer  "  military  service,  a  privilege  dearly 
prized  and  often  dearly  purchased  for  a  favored  son  by  pathetic 
sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  other  members  of  the  family.  At 
the  end  of  these  six  years  hosts  of  students  quit  school.  The 
military  privilege  is  practically  the  only  common  advantage 
which  these  schools  offer.  There  is  a  very  complete  and  inex- 
orable code  of  "  privileges "  attached  to  graduation,  really 
amounting  to  tremendous  prizes.  Of  these  prizes  the  gymna- 
sium has  more  than  a  lion's  share.  To  put  a  boy  at  nine  into 
any  other  school  than  a  gymnasium  is  practically  to  shut  him 
out  then  once  and  forever  from  the  most  attractive  professions. 
So  long  as  the  gymnasium  retains  this  monopoly  of  the  high- 
est prizes  of  life  in  Germany,  its  opponents  may  rage  in  vain.1 

In  the  Frankfort  plan  an  effort  has  been  made  in  Germany, 
and  received  with  approbation,  toward  the  solution  of  this 

1  No  less  a  person  than  Emperor  William,  however,  fairly  recognizes 
the  injustice  of  this  gymnasial  monopoly.  A  decade  ago,  shortly  after 
he  ascended  the  throne,  by  a  decree  he  started  the  only  effective  edu- 
cational reform  in  Germany  for  a  generation.  As  king  of  Prussia  he  is  in 
position  to  bring  things  educatioaal  to  pass  in  that  state,  while  what 
is  done  there  becomes,  by  reason  of  Prussia's  general  influence,  a 
measure  of  what  is  likely  to  be  done  in  other  parts  of  the  Empire. 


40  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

problem  by  postponing  the  choice  for  a  number  of  years  after 
entrance  upon  the  higher  schools.  This,  however,  does  not  re- 
move the  fundamental  objection  that  the  choice  of  any  higher 
career  at  all  for  the  student  must  be  made  by  the  parents  at 
about  the  age  of  nine. 

In  France  there  has  been  a  long  history  of  development  along 
this  line,  which  it  may  be  well  to  sketch  somewhat  more  in  de- 
tail. There  are  three  types  of  secondary  schools  in  France,  the 
lycees  belonging  to  the  state,  the  city  colleges,  and  private 
schools,  the  latter  being  part  lay  and  part  Catholic.  But 
there  are  no  important  inner  differences,  so  far  as  the  plans  and 
aims  of  instruction  are  concerned,  in  these  three  schools.  The 
lay  private  schools  have  fallen  off  notably  since  1880,  and  now 
very  few  of  any  importance  exist.  Secondary  instruction  in 
France  is  based  upon  the  statutes  and  regulations  of  Napoleon 
I,  by  which  the  University  of  France  was  created  between  the 
years  1801-1808.  Before  the  Revolution,  instruction  was  based 
upon  the  study  of  Latin,  and  the  monastic  orders,  chiefly  the 
Jesuits,  constituted  the  great  majority  of  teachers.  We  have 
already  seen  something  of  the  efforts  made  in  the  Revolution 
for  elementary  schools.  The  Constituent  Assembly  did  decide 
in  1791  for  the  creation  of  a  system  of  public  schools  which 
should  be  free  to  all  citizens,  and  in  September,  1793,  the 
Convention  decided  that  besides  these  schools  there  should  be 
three  other  orders  of  instruction  provided  for  by  the  state:  first, 
for  artisans;  second,  for  other  classes  in  society;  and,  third, 
for  the  pursuit  of  those  subjects  of  instruction  whose  serious 
study  was  not  attainable  by  all.  This  third  step  corresponds 
to  the  present  conception  of  secondary  education. 

These  schools  were  to  be  called  institutes  and  to  consist  of 
four  classes.  The  two  first  should  be  parallel,  and  the  others 
so  planned  that  they  could  be  attended  together,  or  one  at  a 
time.  The  subjects  were:  In  class  first,  mathematics  and 
physics;  class  second,  morals  and  politics;  class  third,  applied 
mathematics  and  physics;  class  fourth,  literature  and  the  fine 
arts.  This  plan  of  Condorcet  remained  on  paper. 

Next  came  Lakanal's  plan  of  a  central  school  with  a  rather 
highfaluting  programme  embracing  mathematics,  physics,  ex- 
perimental chemistry,  natural  history,  agriculture  and  trade, 
original  psychology,  political  economy,  jurisprudence,  philoso- 
phy of  history,  hygiene,  arts,  grammar,  belles  lettres,  ancient 
and  modern  languages  and  drawing.  Some  order  was  brought 
out  of  this  confusion  by  Daunon,  the  proposer  of  a  law  in  1795 
in  which  he  divided  the  scholars  of  the  central  school  into  three 
grades,  and  the  subjects  of  instruction  also  into  three  grades. 
Pupils  from  the  twelfth  to  the  fourteenth  year  were  to  pursue 
drawing,  natural  history,  ancient  languages  and  elective  mod- 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  41 

ern  languages;  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  sixteenth  year  they 
were  to  pursue  mathematics,  physics  and  chemistry;  from  the 
sixteenth  general  grammar,  belles  lettres,  history  and  jurispru- 
dence. The  preponderance  of  the  realistic  studies  and  the 
philosophical  tendency  of  these  programmes  denote  their  revo- 
lutionary character. 

The  success  of  these  schools  was  very  moderate,  largely  on 
account  of  incapable  teachers.  Only  a  few  of  them  could  later 
be  changed  into  lycees.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  these 
programmes  have  the  germ  of  the  tripartite  division  which  still 
exists  in  France  in  higher  education,  namely,  a  literary  and 
classical  instruction  with  Greek  and  Latin,  classical  and  real- 
istic instruction  mixed,  and  realistic  instruction  with  modern 
languages. 

By  the  law  of  the  first  of  May,  1802,  the  lycee  was  sub- 
stituted for  the  central  school.  The  decree  of  the  loth  of 
December,  1802,  says  with  true  Napoleonic  directness,  "In 
the  lycees  Latin  and  mathematics  shall  be  chiefly  taught." 
Latin  and  mathematics  still  remain  the  backbone  of  the  sec- 
ondary instruction  in  France.  The  whole  educational  organi- 
zation has  not  broken  with  the  plans  of  Napoleon. 

Under  the  Restoration,  in  the  programmes  followed  from  1815 
to  1821,  there  was  a  violent  reaction  in  favor  of  the  classical 
and  against  the  realistic  studies.  History  was  despised,  philoso- 
phy was  to  be  regarded  as  the  completion  of  rhetoric  and  to  be 
taught  in  the  Latin  language.  Public  opinion,  however,  drove 
the  administration  to  more  liberal  rules  which  were  introduced 
in  1828  by  Minister  Vatimesnil,  to  whom  is  due  the  introduc- 
tion of  elective  instruction  in  the  modern  languages  in  the 
lower  classes  and  permission  to  introduce  special  courses,  cours 
spfaiaux,  in  favor  of  those  scholars  who  had  no  taste  for  classi- 
cal learning.  Here  is  a  germ  of  the  realistic  instruction, 
enseignement  special,  later  called  enseignement  moderne.  The 
development  of  these  courses  was  favored  under  the  govern- 
ment of  Louis  Phillipe.  After  the  Revolution  of  1848,  thanks 
to  Minister  Carnot,  the  question  was  first  raised  of  the  over- 
loading of  the  school  programme  and  of  differentiation  accord- 
ing to  the  needs  of  the  scholars. 

The  solution  of  this  whole  question  lay  in  bifurcation,  sep- 
aration into  the  classical  and  the  realistic  programmes.  The 
plan  of  Fortoul,  1852,  separated  the  classes  of  the  lycees  and 
colleges  into  three  grades:  first,  the  elementary  classes,  eighth 
and  seventh,  with  the  same  plan  of  instruction  as  the  common 
schools,  except  that  Latin  was  given  in  class  seven;  second,  the 
grammatical  division,  the  same  for  all  scholars;  besides  Latin 
Greek  was  taught  in  class  six,  then  modern  languages,  French, 
history  and  geography,  geometry  and  arithmetic;  third,  the 


42  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

higher  division  in  which  the  lessons  in  French,  Latin,  modern 
languages  and  history  remain  common,  but  the  remaining  sub- 
jects from  class  three  to  the  class  in  logic — the  term  philosophy 
being  unacceptable,  but  logic  corresponding  to  the  present  class 
in  philosophy — formed  two  separate  divisions  which  led  to  a 
humanistic  and  realistic  bachelor's  degree  (baccalaureat  es  let- 
tres  and  baccalaureat  es  sciences).  Commenting  on  this  ar- 
rangement, M.  Stropeno,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Revue  In- 
ternationale de  1'Enseignement,  says  that  it  was  certainly 
altogether  too  symmetrical  to  be  practical,  and  yet  can  be 
defended  on  pedagogical  grounds. 

The  putting  of  this  plan  into  operation  was  prevented  by 
petty  rules  based  on  mistrust.  The  teachers  were  fettered  by 
the  regulation  of  their  work  down  to  the  very  minute.  They 
were  practically  compelled  to  be  as  superficial  as  possible  in 
their  attainments,  since  only  two  categories  of  teachers,  hu- 
manists and  realists,  were  recognized.  So  there  were  two 
sorts  of  maids  of  all  work.  The  reason  of  this,  as  given  in  the 
ministerial  report  of  the  iQth  of  September,  1853,  was  to  pre- 
serve them  from  idle  investigations,  vain  subtleties,  and  false 
pride  in  individual  ideas!  The  teachers,  too,  had  to  wear  the 
official  dress  all  the  while,  and  shave  their  beards.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  the  most  gifted  soon  forsook  the  calling  ?  This 
went  on  for  ten  years,  during  which  rich  and  independent  peo- 
ple sent  their  sons  into  the  schools  of  the  priests  which  were 
opened  everywhere  after  the  monopoly  of  the  state  was  aban- 
doned in  1851. 

A  change  was  made  by  Minister  Duruy  who  took  office  in 
June,  1863.  Favored  by  Napoleon  III  he  again  restored  the 
name  philosophy  to  the  highest  class,  shoved  the  bifurcation 
ahead  from  class  four  to  class  three,  where  it  soon  practically 
disappeared,  elevated  the  teaching  of  modern  languages  by  pro- 
viding special  teachers,  emphasized  instruction  of  history  in 
the  lycees,  and  organized  realistic  instruction  so  that  it  was 
advantageous  for  trade  and  industry.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  he  also  founded  at  Cluny  a  special  normal  school  to  pre- 
pare teachers  to  give  this  realistic  instruction.  This  institution 
is  now  closed,  the  special  examination  for  real  teachers  done 
away  with,  and  the  name  enseignement  special  also. 

The  next  great  improvement  was  made  by  Jules  Simon, 
whose  circular  of  the  2 yth  September,  1872,  and  book  on  La 
reforme  de  V enseignement  secondaire  are  epoch  making  and  form 
the  basis  of  the  present  condition  of  the  question.  Most  nota- 
ble points  of  his  plan  are  the  addition  of  a  course  in  geography 
and  living  languages,  increased  instruction  in  the  vernacular, 
diminution  of  Latin  verse  and  Latin  themes  and  general  dimi- 
nution of  written  work.  He  also  was  the  first  to  introduce 


THE   PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  43 

monthly  teachers'  conferences  in  every  lyce*e.  There  was  a 
reaction,  and  in  1874  a  new  plan  was  promulgated  in  which 
the  real  studies  were  less  prominent.  In  1880  Jules  Ferry 
introduced  another  reform  which  was  based  upon  the  ideas  of 
Simon.  In  1890  new  instructions  were  published  touching 
various  matters  of  detail.  So  much  for  a  brief  and  far  from 
satisfactory  sketch  of  a  field  of  school-programme  evolution 
that  in  all  its  details  is  worthy  of  the  careful  attention  of  stu- 
dents of  secondary  education. 

In  England,  in  almost  all  the  greater  schools,  there  are  at 
least  two  chief  divisions,  the  classical  side  and  the  modern  side. 
Along  with  these,  according  to  the  character  of  the  schools  and 
the  careers  for  which  they  prepare,  we  find  a  military  side, 
army  class,  commercial  class,  science  or  engineering  depart- 
ment. There  is  no  such  separation  of  the  schools  as  in  Ger- 
many. There  is  a  uniform  substructure  with  a  late  bifurcation 
according  to  the  local  needs  of  the  school.  In  the  larger  cities, 
many  schools,  as  in  Leeds,  have  strong  commercial  tendencies. 
In  the  schools  of  North  England,  the  technical  branches  and  nat- 
ural science  are  particularly  favored.  Some  schools,  as  Chelten- 
ham, make  special  preparation  for  military  examinations,  and  so 
on.  The  different  divisions  of  the  school  are  shown  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  Clifton  College,  for  example.  From  the  eighth 
to  the  eleventh  year  constitutes  the  preparatory  school;  from 
the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  the  junior  school;  from  the  four- 
teenth to  the  nineteenth  run  the  three  divisions,  classical,  mod- 
ern and  military.  The  differentiation,  therefore,  is  postponed 
until  the  fourteenth  year.  To  be  more  specific,  when  a  boy  is 
eleven  years  old  he  must  leave  the  preparatory  school  and  en- 
ter the  junior  school.  He  then  generally  goes  into  a  parallel 
class,  his  transfer  from  the  preparatory  to  the  junior  school 
being  not  dependent  upon  his  attainments,  but  upon  his  age. 
In  the  junior  school  he  remains  until  fourteen,  when  again  he 
must  leave  that,  for  he  is  now  too  old  for  the  junior  boys. 
Then  he  goes  into  what  is  called  the  higher  department,  where 
he  often  enters  a  parallel  class  to  the  one  that  he  left  in  the 
junior  school. 

This  emphasizes  the  fact  that  in  England  the  common  fash- 
ion of  dividing  schools  is  according  to  the  age  of  the  pupils  at 
leaving  the  school.  This  kind  of  division  was  first  made  by  the 
Commission  of  1861  to  1864,  and  has  been  maintained  in  spite 
of  all  criticisms  by  the  last  commission.  According  as  the 
pupils  leave  the  school  at  the  age  of  19,  17,  or  15,  the  schools 
are  divided  into  first,  second  and  third  grades.  The  first  two 
are  oftentimes  designated  as  higher  and  intermediate  secondary 
schools.  The  schools  of  the  third  grade  are  closely  related  with 
the  higher  common  schools,  and  can  scarcely  be  differentiated 


44 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 


from  them.  The  schools  of  the  highest  grade  prepare  their 
scholars  for  the  higher  callings  of  life,  military,  civil  service 
and  the  university.  They  keep  their  pupils  until  the  eighteenth 
or  nineteenth  year.  The  schools  of  the  second  grade  prepare 
particularly  for  mercantile,  industrial  and  agricultural  life,  and 
dismiss  their  pupils  at  the  age  of  sixteen  or  seventeen.  The 
schools  of  the  third  grade,  the  age  limit  being  fourteen  or  fif- 
teen, fit  boys  for  the  workshop  and  the  store.  To  the  schools 
of  the  first  grade  belong  the  great  public  schools,  all  the  best 
endowed  schools,  the  great  corporation  schools  and  a  large 
number  of  the  private  schools.  There  are  also  preparatory 
schools  which  take  sons  of  the  better  classes  up  to  the  age  of 
about  fourteen  and  make  them  ready  for  the  schools  of  the  first 
grade.  The  school  hierarchy  may  be  represented,  in  a  way,  by 
the  following  table:  (after  Baumeister.) 

(Universities) 
(Provincial  University  Colleges) 


Secondary  Schools        County  Council  Technical  Schools 
First  Grade 


1 

Preparatory  Schools 

Secondary 
Schools 

Second  grade 

I 

Secondary  Schools 
Third  grade 
or  also 


Organized  Science  School. 


Higher-Grade  Elementary  School      Higher-Grade  Elementary  School 

(Elementary  School)  (Elementary  School) 

This  table  is  somewhat  schematic,  and  of  course  does  not 
represent  the  succession  of  institutions  which  any  individual 
has  to  go  through  in  order.  Clever  elementary  school  pupils 
who  have  made  quick  passage  through  the  higher  grade  ele- 
mentary school  may  receive  a  stipendium  and  go  immediately 
to  the  secondary  school  of  the  first  grade,  skipping  the  inter- 
mediate ranks.  From  what  has  already  been  said  it  is  clear 
that  there  are  in  England  no  differentiated  classes  of  higher 
schools  which  correspond  to  the  German  Gymnasien,  Real- 
gymnasien  and  Realschulen.  All  are  grammar  schools,  origi- 
nally purely  classical  and  corresponding  to  the  Gymnasien, 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  45 

which  have  in  modern  times  developed  more  or  less  important 
modern  sides. 

The  particular  question  of  bifurcation  is,  in  the  United  States, 
owing  to  the  loose  organization  of  education  and  the  lack  of 
class  distinctions,  of  far  less  importance  than  in  Germany, 
France,  or  England.  And  yet  it  cannot  be  said  that  we  have 
escaped  the  problem  altogether,  or  that  its  solution  has  still 
been  absolutely  determined  in  this  country.  This  problem  in 
our  country,  however,  is  a  modern  one  growing  out  of  the  rise 
of  the  great  public  high  schools.  It  has  been  felt  that  "it  is 
unwise,  impracticable,  and  impossible  to  divide  the  pupils  in 
our  public  high  schools  into  two  distinct  classes,  the  one  pre- 
paring for  college  and  the  other  for  life. ' '  Here  the  secondar)' 
schools  are  the  schools  of  the  people.  ' '  Throughout  the  course 
of  secondary  instruction,  surely  there  must  be  no  Procrustean 
bed  which  every  pupil  by  some  process  of  stretching  or  dwarfing 
must  be  made  to  fit.  Natural  endowments  as  soon  as  discovered 
should  have  full  sway  within  certain  limitations.  College 
courses  ought  to  be  so  adjusted  that  every  pupil  at  the  end  of 
the  secondary  course,  recognized  as  excellent  both  in  quality 
and  quantity  of  his  work,  may  find  the  doors  of  every  college 
swinging  wide  to  receive  him  into  an  atmosphere  of  deeper 
research  and  higher  culture  along  the  lines  of  his  mental  apti- 
tudes."1 

There  is  a  growing  sentiment  that  the  solution  of  this  diffi- 
culty is  to  be  found  by  a  wider  introduction  of  elective  courses 
into  high  schools.  The  Committee  of  Ten  in  its  report  pub- 
lished in  1893,  i*1  commenting  upon  its  final  programme,  takes 
the  matter  up  as  follows:  "  Many  teachers  will  say,  at  first 
sight,  that  physics  comes  too  early  in  these  programmes  and 
Greek  too  late.  One  member  of  the  committee  is  firmly  of  the 
opinion  that  Greek  comes  too  late.  The  explanation  of  the 
positions  assigned  to  these  subjects  is  that  the  Committee  of 
Ten  attached  great  importance  to  the  two  general  principles  in 
programme  making: — In  the  first  place  they  endeavored  to  post- 
pone till  the  third  year  the  grave  choice  between  the  Classical 
course  and  the  Latin-Scientific.  They  believed  that  this  bifur- 
cation should  occur  as  late  as  possible,  since  the  choice  be- 
tween these  two  roads  often  determines  for  life  the  youth's 
career.  Moreover,  they  believed  that  it  is  possible  'to  make 
this  important  decision  for  a  boy  on  good  grounds  only  when 
he  has  opportunity  to  exhibit  his  quality  and  discover  his  tastes 
by  making  excursions  into  all  the  principal  fields  of  knowledge. 
The  youth  who  has  never  studied  any  but  his  native  language 
cannot  know  his  own  capacity  for  linguistic  acquisition;  and 

1  A.  F.  Nightingale  in  the  School  Review  for  June,  1896. 


46  THE)   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

the  youth  who  has  never  made  a  chemical  or  physical  experi- 
ment cannot  know  whether  or  not  he  has  a  taste  for  exact 
science.  The  wisest  teacher  or  the  most  observant  parent  can 
hardly  predict  with  confidence  a  boy's  gift  for  a  subject  which 
he  has  never  touched.  In  these  considerations  the  committee 
found  strong  reasons  for  postponing  bifurcation,  and  making 
the  subjects  of  the  first  two  years  as  truly  representative  as 
possible.  Secondly,  inasmuch  as  many  boys  and  girls  who 
begin  the  secondary  school  course  do  not  stay  in  school  more 
than  two  years,  the  committee  thought  it  important  to  select 
the  studies  of  the  first  two  years  in  such  a  way  that  linguistic, 
historical,  mathematical,  and  scientific  subjects  should  all  be 
properly  represented.  Natural  history  being  represented  by 
physical  geography,  the  committee  wished  physics  to  represent 
the  inorganic  sciences  of  precision.  The  first  two  years  of  any 
one  of  the  four  programmes  presented  above  will,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  committee,  be  highly  profitable  by  themselves  to 
children  who  can  go  no  farther. ' ' 

The  more  recent  Report  of  the  Committee  on  College  En- 
trance Requirements  contains  no  recommended  curriculum,  and 
avoids  the  problem  that  caused  its  predecessor  so  much  trouble 
by  a  rather  tacit  but  none  the  less  complete  adoption  of  an 
elective  principle  which,  carried  to  its  logical  conclusion,  can 
only  mean  the  construction  for  each  pupil  by  the  pupil,  par- 
ents, teachers  and  principal  of  an  individual  curriculum  fash- 
ioned to  suit  individual  needs.  This  individual  curriculum 
will  be  made  up  out  of  the  separate  studies  which  the  school  is 
able  to  offer.  The  external  conditions  modifying  school  free- 
dom in  regard  to  studies  are  essentially  different  in  the  United 
States  from  those  in  Germany ,  France  occupying  an  inter- 
mediate position  between  the  two.  In  this  I  refer  to  the  system 
of  privileges  and  the  like,  which  in  Germany  exercises  a  tyran- 
nical domination  over  the  schools,  in  France  has  far  less  in- 
fluence, and  in  the  United  States  is  scarcely  felt  except  in  col- 
lege entrance  requirements  which  are  becoming  more  elastic 
every  year.  In  England,  secondary  education  as  a  system  can 
hardly  be  said  to  exist  at  all,  and  therefore  the  problems  in 
this  field  that  have  occupied  other  countries  and  called  forth 
various  solutions,  receive  no  light  from  English  experience. 
The  new  law  which  went  into  effect  April  i,  1900,  for  the  first 
time  brings  secondary  education  into  organic  connection  with 
the  state  system,  but  the  results  can  scarcely  be  predicted.  In 
Germany  there  has  already  gained  some  headway  a  movement 
looking  towards  the  postponement  of  choice  along  lines  similar 
to  those  of  the  French  tinkerings  of  the  past  thirty  years.  The 
Germans,  however,  have  progressed  no  further  than  to  begin 
French  instead  of  Latin  on  entrance  to  the  higher  school,  so 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  47 

that  not  until  the  third  year  do  pupils  reach  the  point  of 
"  bifurcation  "  where  choice  must  be  made  between  the  gym- 
nasium or  the  real  gymnasium.  This  is  a  gain,  and  the  spirit 
shown  is  more  significant  than,  the  attainment  already  made. 
Even  this  modest  reform  is  by  no  means  generally  popular  as 
yet.1 

Reference  has  already  been  made  (see  pp.  15,  39)  to  the  German 
Emperor's  share  in  educational  reform.  He  has  recently  issued 
another  decree,  about  which  the  German  schoolmen  are  now 
buzzing,  and  which  is  of  enough  interest  to  be  given  in  full. 

THE  EMPEROR'S  EDICT  CONCERNING  THE  REFORM  OF  THE 

SCHOOLS. 

In  regard  to  the  report  of  Nov.  20  of  this  year  (1900),  I  announce 
my  agreement  to  the  plan  of  carrying  further  the  reform  of  the  higher 
schools  that  I  introduced  in  the  year  1892.  The  further  measures  con- 
cern the  following  points  : 

1.  In  regard  to  privileges,  the  starting  point  is  this,  that  the  Gymna- 
sium, Realgymnasium  and  Higher  Realschool  are  to  be  regarded  as 
equal  for  the  general  culture  of  the  intellect.  No  reorganization  of  the 
system  of  privileges  is  demanded  except  such  as  are  due  to  the  fact  that 
a  special  preparation  is  necessary  for  many  studies  and  callings  in 
life,  in  consequence  of  which  fact  attention  should  be  given  to  an  ex- 
tension of  the  privileges  in  the  realistic  schools.     This  is  also  the  best 
way  to  increase  the  dignity  of  these  institutions  and  the  attendance 
upon  them,  and  so  of  accomplishing  the  wider  dissemination  of  real- 
istic knowledge. 

2.  Through  a  fundamental  recognition  of  the  equivalent  value  of 
the  three  institutions  of  higher  learning  the  possibility  is  offered  of 
emphasizing  more  strongly  the  individuality  of  each.     With  this  con- 
sideration in  mind  I  shall  have  no  objections   if   Latin   is   decidedly 
strengthened  in  the  programmes  of  the  Gymnasia  and  Realgymnasia. 
I  consider  it  especially  important,  however,  that,  in  view  of  the  great 
importance  which  a  knowledge  of  Bnglish  has  now  assumed,  this  lan- 
guage should  be  more  thoroughly  attended  to  in  the  gymnasia.     To 
this  end  instruction  in  English  should  everywhere  be  permitted  as  a 
substitute  for  Greek  as  far  as  Untersecunda ;  and  further,  where  local 
conditions  are  favorable,  in  the  three  upper  classes  of  the  gymnasium 
English  should  be  made  optional  in  place  of  French,  though  the  lat- 
ter should  be  retained.     It  also  seems  to  me  advisable  that  in  the  pro- 
gramme of  the  higher  realschools,  which,  according  to  the  number  of 
hours  still   has  room   for   it,  geography   should   have   more  careful 
attention. 

3.  In  the  management  of  education  unmistakable  progress  has  been 
made  in  various  fields  since  1892.     But  still  more  must  be  done.     The 
directors,  having  in  mind  the  maxim  Multum  non  multa,  must  take 
greater  care  that  equally  high  demands  in  regard  to  work  are  not 
made  in  all  subjects  of  instruction,  but  that  the  more  important  of 
these  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  different  institutions,  are  brought 
into  the  foreground  and  strengthened. 

Especial  weight  should  be  laid  in  the  instruction  in  Greek  upon  the 
disregard  of  useless  formalities  and  especial  attention  given  to  the 

1  See  Reform  in  the  German  Higher  Schools,  Oscar  Thiergen,  Sc. 
Rev.,  Vol.  VIII,  No.  4. 


48  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

aesthetic  side  and  to  the  relations  between  the  ancient  world  and 
modern  culture. 

In  modern  languages  particular  stress  is  to  be  laid  upon  skill  in 
speaking  and  clear  understanding  of  contemporary  authors. 

In  the  history  teaching  two  gaps  are  still  noticeable  :  neglect  of  the 
more  important  portions  of  ancient  history,  and  a  too  superficial  treat- 
ment of  the  German  history  of  the  igth  century  with  all  its  stimula- 
ting, inspiring  memories  and  great  achievements  for  the  Fatherland. 

So  far  as  geography  is  concerned  it  is  still  to  be  desired  that  both  in 
the  gymnasia  and  the  realgymnasia  the  instruction  should  be  placed 
in  the  charge  of  special  teachers. 

In  the  instruction  in  natural  science  observation  and  experimenta- 
tion should  have  a  larger  place,  and  more  frequent  excursions  should 
enliven  the  study. 

In  physics  and  chemistry  the  applied  and  the  technical  sides  should 
not  be  neglected. 

Concerning  drawing — and  the  ability  to  sketch  rapidly  what  has 
been  seen  deserves  consideration  in  this  connection — the  gymnasia 
should  see  to  it  that  those  scholars  especially  who  think  of  devoting 
themselves  to  technical  studies,  the  natural  sciences,  mathematics  or 
medicine,  make  diligent  use  of  the  elective  instruction  in  this  branch. 

Besides  physical  exercise,  which  should  be  conducted  more  thor- 
oughly, the  arrangement  of  the  daily  programme  must  give  more 
consideration  to  health,  especially  through  the  right  placing  and 
considerable  increase  of  the  far  too  short  recesses. 

4.  Since  the  final  examination  has  not  realized   the  high  expecta- 
tions with  which  it  was  introduced,  and,  in  fact,  has  rather  increased 
than   diminished  the  excessive   tendency   to    university   study,    this 
examination  should  be  abolished  as  soon  as  possible. 

5.  The  establishment  of  institutions  according  to  the  programme 
of  those  in  Altona  and  Frankfort  has  justified  itself,  up  to  this  time, 
for  the  places  where  they  exist.  By  reason  of  the  common  substructure 
which  covers  the  ground  of  the  realschool,  they  also  present  a  social 
advantage  that  is  not  to  be  underestimated.     It  is  my  wish,  therefore, 
not  only  that  the  experiment  be  continued  in  a  suitable  way,  but  also 
that  it  be  tried  in  a  broader  way  where  the  conditions  are  favorable. 

I  cherish  the  hope  that  the  measures  that  shall  be  hereafter  adopted, 
and  for  the  execution  of  which  I  rely  upon  the  unchanging  fidelity  and 
intelligent  devotion  of  the  teachers,  will  be  a  blessing  to  our  higher 
schools,  and  will  contribute  their  share  toward  modifying  the  antagon- 
ism between  the  representatives  of  the  humanistic  and  of  the  realistic 
tendencies  and  to  introduce  a  reconciliatory  adjustment. 

Given  at  Kiel,  Nov.  26,  1900,  onboard  the  imperial  yacht 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  II. 

WH.HEI.M  R.1 
To  the  Minister,  etc. 

The  question  of  differentiation  that  we  have  been  consider- 
ing never  could  arise  when  men  were  united,  as  in  the  middle 
ages,  upon  one  type  of  education  as  the  only  desirable  type. 
It  is  therefore  entirely  a  modern  question.  Into  the  relative 
claims  of  the  several  kinds  of  education  we  have  not  yet  en- 
tered, and  shall  enter  only  briefly.  The  old  classical  type  is 
still  dominant  in  Germany,  France,  England,  and  shall  we  say 
in  the  United  States?  At  least  Dr.  Harris  shows  that  the  study 

1  Translated  from  Das  Humauistische  Gymnasium,  1901,  p.  88. 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  49 

of  Latin  has  made  enormous  gains  in  the  United  States  in  re- 
cent years,  gains  greater  in  proportion  than  any  other  study.1 

But  it  is  in  Germany  that  the  battle  wages  with  greatest 
fierceness,  that  huge  books  are  written  on  the  matter  in  that 
hearty  controversial  style  which  it  seems  only  a  German  now- 
adays can  get  warm  enough  to  use  in  a  purely  academic  dis- 
cussion. This  is  finely  illustrated  in  Schmeding's  Die  Klas- 
sische  Bildung  in  der  Gegenwart,  a  book  that  is  really  interesting 
as  a  collection  of  facts  and  an  example  of  special  pleading.  The 
author,  who  is  a  "  real"  school  teacher,  has  no  difficulty  in 
proving  that  Germany  is  in  a  bad  way,  all  owing  to  the  spirit 
of  classical  culture  whose  corrupting  influence  blasts  every 
form  of  national  life  and  enterprise.  He  gives  some  interesting 
quotations:  "  The  lack  of  enthusiasm  for  science  is  universal  " 
(Wiese),  "  Where  does  one  find  enthusiasm  that  grows  with 
the  greatness  of  the  task?"  (Hoffmann),  "  The  ideal  ends  fade 
more  and  more;  a  dull  utilitarianism  gets  the  upper  hand. 
Men  work  only  for  external  advantages,  for  the  sake  of  the  ex- 
amination and  of  bread  "  (Risch),  "  I  hold  the  learned  to  be 
altogether  disqualified  for  participation  in  practical  affairs  ' ' 
(Baron  von  Stein),  "  What  I  want  to  do  above  all  is  to  shut 
up  the  professors  in  my  country.  I  will  save  Prussia  from  the 
professors"  (Bismarck,  1894),  "The  finished  scholar,  who  is 
on  confidential  terms  with  the  history  of  a  past  that  is  2,000 
years  old,  must  have  his  sight  completely  darkened  for  the  sun 
of  the  present  "  (Bismarck,  1882).  Another  rather  more  schol- 
arly work  is  Nerrlich  Das  Dogma  vom  Klassischen  Altertum. 
Here  the  author  gives  an  interesting  historical  account  of  the 
classical  element  in  formal  culture,  but  his  work  is  essentially 
a  polemic  for  the  time  as  much  as  Schmeding's. 

The  whole  situation  is  nowhere  better  stated  than  by  Mat- 
thew Arnold,  who,  writing  in  1868  after  seven  months  spent 
on  the  Continent  in  studying  school  systems  for  the  Schools 
Enquiry  Commissioners,  speaks  with  a  sureness  of  knowledge 
and  a  clearness  of  vision  that  give  his  statements  full  value 
for  to-day,  and  show  him  worthy  of  that  honored  place  on 
the  roll  of  the  world's  educators  that  would  doubtless  have 
been  more  generally  accorded  him  long  since  but  for  his  pre- 
eminence as  a  poet  and  man  of  letters. 

"  To  sum  up,  then,  the  conclusions  to  which  these  remarks  lead. 
The  idea  of  a  general  liberal  training  is  to  carry  us  to  a  knowledge  of 
ourselves  and  the  world.  We  are  called  to  this  knowledge  by  special 
aptitudes  which  are  born  with  us  ;  the  grand  thing  in  teaching  is  to 
have  faith  that  some  aptitude  of  this  kind  every  one  has.  This  one's 
special  aptitudes  are  for  knowing  men, — the  study  of  the  humanities  ; 
that  one's  special  aptitudes  are  for  knowing  the  world — the  study  of 

1 A  Brief  for  Latin,  Educational  Review,  Vol.  XVII,  pp.  313-116. 

4 


50  TH£   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

nature.  The  circle  of  knowledge  comprehends  both,  and  we  should 
all  have  some  notion,  at  any  rate,  of  the  whole  circle  of  knowledge. 
The  rejection  of  the  humanities  by  the  realists,  the  rejection  of  the 
study  of  nature  by  the  humanists,  are  alike  ignorant.  He  whose  apti- 
tudes carry  him  to  the  study  of  nature,  should  have  some  notion  of 
the  humanities;  he  whose  aptitudes  carry  him  to  the  humanities 
should  have  some  notion  of  the  phenomena  and  laws  of  nature.  Evi- 
dently, therefore,  the  beginnings  of  a  liberal  culture  should  be  the 
same  for  both.  The  mother-tongue,  the  elements  of  Latin  and  of  the 
chief  modern  languages,  the  elements  of  history,  of  arithmetic  and 
geometry,  of  geography,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  nature,  should  be  the 
study  of  the  lower  classes  in  all  secondary  schools,  and  should  be  the 
same  for  all  boys  at  this  stage.  So  far,  therefore,  there  is  no  reason 
for  a  division  of  schools.  But  then  comes  a  bifurcation,  according  to 
the  boys'  aptitudes  and  aims.  Either  the  study  of  humanities  or  the 
study  of  nature  is  henceforth  to  be  the  predominating  part  of  his  in- 
struction. Evidently  there  are  some  advantages  in  making  one  school 
include  those  who  follow  both  these  studies.  It  is  the  more  economi- 
cal arrangement ;  and  when  the  humanistic  and  the  real  studies  are  in 
the  same  school  there  is  less  likelihoo,d  of  the  social  stamp  put  on  the 
boy  following  the  one  of  them  being  different  from  that  put  on  a  boy 
following  the  other.  Still  the  bifurcation  with  one  school,  as  prac- 
ticed in  France,  did  not  answer.  But  I  think  this  was  because  the 
character  of  the  one  school  remained  so  overwhelmingly  humanistic, 
because  the  humanist  body  of  teachers  was  in  general  much  superior 
to  the  realist  body,  and  because  the  claims  of  the  humanities  were  al- 
lowed to  pursue  a  boy  so  jealously  into  his  real  studies.  In  my  opin- 
ion, a  clever  Realschuler,  who  has  gone  properly  through  the  general 
grounding  of  the  lower  classes,  is  likely  to  develop  the  greater  taste 
for  the  humanities  the  more  he  is  suffered  to  follow  his  real  studies 
without  let  or  stint.  The  ideal  place  of  instruction  would  be,  I  think, 
one  where  in  the  upper  classes  (the  instruction  in  the  lower  classes 
having  been  the  same  for  all  scholars)  both  humanistic  and  real 
studies  were  as  judiciously  prosecuted, with  as  good  teaching  and  with 
as  generous  a  consideration  for  the  main  aptitudes  of  the  pupil,  as  the 
different  branches  of  humanistic  study  are  now  prosecuted  in  the  best 
German  Gymnasien  where  an  attempt  is  certainly  made,  by  exempt- 
ing a  pupil  from  lessons  not  in  the  direction  of  his  aptitudes,  and  by 
encouraging  and  guiding  him  to  develop  these  through  Privatstudien, 
to  break  through  that  Procrustean  routine  which  after  a  certain  point 
is  the  bane  of  great  schools.  There  should,  after  a  certain  point,  be 
no  cast-iron  course  for  all  scholars,  either  in  humanistic  or  natural- 
istic studies.  According  to  his  aptitude,  the  pupil  should  be  suffered 
to  follow  principally  one  branch  of  either  of  the  two  great  lines  of 
study  ;  and  above  all,  to  interchange  the  lines  occasionally,  following, 
on  the  line  which  is  not  his  own  line,  such  studies  as  yet  have  some 
connection  with  his  own  line  or,  from  any  cause  whatever,  some  at- 
traction for  him.  He  cannot  so  well  do  this  if  the  Gymnasium  and 
the  Realschule  are  two  totally  separate  schools."1 

1  Higher  Schools  and  Universities  of  Germany,  p.  125. 


THE   PRINCIPLES    OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  51 

X. 

PRIVATE  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS. 

The  private  school  can  trace  its  history  far  beyond  the  poin 
where  any  state  school  system  begins.  As  the  state  has  tended 
to  assume  the  entire  control  of  that  education  which  was  for- 
merly in  the  hands  of  the  family,  community  and  the  church, 
the  family  and  the  church  have  taken  refuge  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent in  the  private  schools.  These  exist  in  all  lands.  They 
are  the  least  favored  in  Germany,  probably,  of  all  the  countries 
that  we  have  been  considering.  In  France  their  position  is  more 
favorable  than  we  are  apt  to  think.  In  England  the  private 
secondary  schools  are  the  only  secondary  schools  deserving 
consideration  In  the  United  States  the  conditions  vary  greatly 
in  different  parts  of  the  country.  In  the  East  there  are  many 
nourishing  private  and  endowed  schools.  In  the  New  Eng- 
land states  and  in  New  York  state  the  more  or  less  endowed 
"academy"  was  one  of  the  earliest  educational  institutions. 
The  West  has  been  particularly  the  seat  of  education  by  the 
people,  the  most  signal  token  of  which  is  the  unparalleled  de- 
velopment of  state  universities  in  the  western  states.  The 
public  high  school  goes  hand  in  hand  with  the  state  univer- 
sity, and  the  commanding  influence  of  the  high  school  to-day 
is  in  large  measure  due  to  the  example  of  the  West.  The  num- 
ber of  good  private  secondary  schools  in  the  West  is  apparently 
increasing,  but  there  the  high  school  will  long  remain  supreme 
in  influence. 

The  private  schools  claim  the  following  points  of  superiority 
over  the  public  high  schools:  First,  since  their  instruction  may 
be  based  upon  universal  principles  and  not  merely  determined 
by  external  force  they  may  have  a  more  strictly  pedagogical 
and  scientific  organization;  Second,  the  ambition  of  those  at 
the  head  of  them  is  not  to  be  known  first  of  all  as  scholars,  but 
pre-eminently  as  earnest  and  enthusiastic  followers  of  peda- 
gogical ideas  and  principles;  Third,  they  will  devote  themselves 
with  a  greater  seriousness  to  their  calling  because  their  per- 
sonal interests  are  at  stake,  so  that  there  is  no  danger  of  care- 
less indifference  in  their  work;  Fourth,  the  great  advantage  oi 
small  classes  may  be  secured  and  maintained;  Fifth,  private 
schools  become  pedagogical  therapeutic  institutions  by  fur- 
nishing places  of  refuge  for  those  who  are  summarily  turned 
out  of  the  public  schools  by  the  working  of  those  rules  which 
must  be  made  to  govern  large  masses  of  pupils;  Sixth,  the  pri- 
vate schools  are  enabled  to  dispose  absolutely  of  the  student's 
time  according  to  pedagogical  and  hygienic  principles.  They 
can  insist  upon  proper  hours  for  sleep,  eating,  recreation,  ex- 


52  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

ercise  and  study.     Theoretically  their  control  of  the  pupils  is 
complete,  both  outside  and  inside  the  classroom. 

So  far  as  the  state  is  concerned  private  schools  may  be  con- 
sidered from  two  points  of  view;  first,  as  private  business  ven- 
tures which  should  no  more  be  supervised  by  the  state  than 
grocery  stores  or  fish  markets,  education  being  held  to  be  a 
matter  of  individual  choice  and  prerogative;  or,  second,  educa- 
tion being  held  to  be  fully  the  duty  and  right  of  the  state,  pri- 
vate schools  may  be  regarded  as  intruders  upon  the  state 
domain  to  be  at  all  events  most  carefully  supervised  by  the 
state  so  that  their  course  of  instruction  and  teachers  may  be  as 
good  as  those  in  the  state  schools.  Germany  and  France  act 
according  to  the  latter  view,  England  and  America,  in  the 
main,  according  to  the  former.  Sound  thinkers  are  not  lack- 
ing, however,  who  hold  that  the  German  system  should  be  in- 
troduced into  our  own  country,1  though  apparently  the  general 
tendency  is  to  let  the  matter  alone. 

In  the  first  years  after  the  erection  of  the  lycees  according  to 
Napoleon's  plans,  the  youth  of  the  better  classes  thronged  into 
the  private  schools.2  This  was  largely  on  account  of  the  harsh 
military  discipline  to  which  the  pupils  of  the  lycees  were 
obliged  to  submit.  These  pupils  were  for  the  mos:  part  pen- 
sioners of  the  state,  distinguished  by  bad  manners,  rudeness 
and  ignorance.  This  thronging  of  the  better  youths  to  the 
private  schools  was  not  permitted  to  continue.  The  monopoly 
of  the  university  stepped  in.  Napoleon  liked  it  little  that 
"  every  one  is  opening  a  school  just  the  same  as  a  dry  goods 
store."  The  university  had  exclusive  right  over  instruction, 
and  the  private  schools  had  to  pay  to  the  grandmaster  of  the 
university  a  tribute  for  every  scholar.  They  were  bound 
to  have  all  their  pupils  entered  at  the  end  of  the  completed 
ninth  year  as  externes  in  the  lycee.  Private  schools  were  closed 
when  their  instruction  appeared  to  be  insufficient,  when  they 
did  not  dress  their  pupils  in  the  uniform  of  the  lycees,  and 
when  they  kept  boarders  when  the  number  of  boarders  in  the 
lycee  or  the  city  college  was  not  full.  At  the  present  time  the 
private  schools  in  France  find  their  patronage  chiefly  among 
the  well-to-do,  since  their  fees  are  higher  than  the  state  insti- 
tutions. Children  are  sent  to  private  schools  because  it  is  the 
fashion,  or  from  religious  motives.  The  private  schools  con- 
ducted by  laymen  get  their  teachers  mostly  from  the  university 
graduates  the  same  as  the  lycees  and  colleges,  while  the  priests 

1  "  The  Supervision  of  Private  Schools  by  the  State  or  Municipal 
Authorities,"  by  James   C.   Mackenzie,  School   Review,   September, 
1893. 

2  Eugene  Stropeno,  in  Bauermeister's  "  Handbuch,  etc.,"  I,  2,  p.  425, 
seq. 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  53 

who  devote  themselves  to  teaching  take  the  advanced  examina- 
tions in  large  numbers.  The  law  demands  of  private  teachers 
that  they  shall  hold  the  degree  of  bachelor.  In  theory  there  is 
a  special  test  of  pedagogical  capacity  which  is  to  be  imposed 
upon  directors  and  teachers  in  private  schools,  but  this  law  of 
1850  has  apparently  never  been  enforced. 

Private  schools  conducted  by  laymen  have  almost  disap- 
peared with  the  exception  of  simple  boarding  houses,  which 
send  their  pupils  for  instruction  into  the  lycees  and  colleges. 
Two  famous  private  schools  still  maintain  themselves  in  Paris, 
the  College  St.  Barbe  and  the  ficole  Alsacienne.  A  third  school 
which  had  considerable  fame  has  recently  passed  away.  These 
schools  once  had  the  reputation  of  employing  better  and  newer 
methods  than  the  state  schools,  but  since  the  reforms  of  1880, 
when  new  ideas  in  instruction  and  discipline  were  introduced 
in  the  state  schools,  the  lay  private  schools  have  lost  a  large 
part  of  their  patronage. 

In  the  church  schools  are  included  those  conducted  by  the 
lay  priests  and  those  conducted  by  the  different  orders.  The 
spirit  of  instruction  is  the  same  in  both,  and  the  courses  of 
study  are  those  prescribed  by  the  state.  Though  the  Jesuit 
order,  which  until  recently  had  the  highest  influence  in  pri- 
vate instruction,  has  been  officially  dissolved,  the  schools  still 
live,  though  they  have  been  changed  in  form  so  as  not  to  con- 
flict with  the  law. 

Reliable  statistics  of  the  attendance  in  the  private  secondary 
schools  are  not  available.  The  ratio  of  attendance  at  private 
and  public  schools  is  apparently  about  2:3,  a  good  showing  for 
the  private  schools. 

In  England  the  institutions  which  we  should  class  as  sec- 
ondary schools  are  practically  all  private  schools.  To  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  private  schools  proper  are  the  endowed 
grammar  schools,  among  which  we  might  include  the  great 
public  schools  differently  reckoned  to  be  from  forty  to  sixty  in 
number,  and  the  proprietary  schools,  which  are  modern  institu- 
tions conducted  by  great  corporations  sometimes  as  purely  busi- 
ness enterprises.  The  private  schools  proper,  often  called  private 
adventure  schools,  form  a  very  important  part  of  the  English 
higher  school  system.  They  are  estimated  to  number  from 
ten  to  fifteen  thousand  at  the  present  time  in  England. 
They  educate  the  greater  part  of  the  children,  especially  the 
girls,  who  get  any  secondary  education  at  all.  The  quality  of 
these  private  schools  is  uneven.  On  the  average  they  have 
about  forty  to  fifty  pupils  each.  Until  recent  times  many  of 
these  schools  were  in  the  most  wretched  condition  imaginable. 
Dickens  rendered  a  great  service  to  education  in  calling  atten- 
tion to  these  schools  in  his  account  of  Dotheboy's  Hall  in 


54  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

Nicholas  Nickleby,  which  appeared  in  1838.  With  public  at- 
tention directed  to  them,  particularly  by  the  investigation  of 
the  Royal  Commission,  these  schools  have  been  greatly  im- 
proved since  1868.  Spite  of  all  their  defects,  the  English  peo- 
ple by  no  means  wish  the  suppression  or  the  transferrence  to 
state  control  of  the  private  schools.  They  represent  the  free 
life  of  the  country.  Even  in  education  the  English  prefer  free 
trade  and  unrestricted  competition. 

Among  these  private  schools  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
there  are  many  of  the  highest  importance,  having  most  distin- 
guished men  at  their  heads,  as,  for  example,  Thring  at  Up- 
pingham,  which  was,  indeed,  a  corporation  school,  but  in  no 
sense  under  government  control.  These  schools  have  often 
made  important  pedagogical  experiments  at  considerable  ex- 
pense. The  strongest  opposition  to  State  control  of  private 
schools  has  come  in  England  not  from  the  good  schools,  who 
do  not  need  it,  but  from  the  poor  schools,  who  know  that  they 
would  get  into  trouble.  The  good  schools  are  willing  to  sacri- 
fice some  of  their  freedom  for  the  general  good,  but  the  poor 
apologies  for  schools  do  not  wish  to  have  any  of  their  preroga- 
tives of  ignorance  and  incompetence  interfered  with. 

XL 

PRINCIPLES  OF  ORGANIZATION  OF  HIGHER  EDUCATION.1 

Every  civilized  country  has  a  well  developed  system  of  higher 
education,  the  completion  of  which  marks  the  end  of  formal 
instruction  and  the  highest  attainable  systematized  education. 
But  the  beginnings  of  higher  education  and  the  complications 
within  the  period  that  it  covers  are  exceedingly  varied.  Here 
the  question  of  differentiation  can  no  longer  be  postponed. 
Men  must  be  fitted  for  the  different  careers  in  life  through  dif- 
ferent lines  of  training.  The  first  question  of  organization 
arises  as  to  whether  all  these  lines  shall  be  represented  in  one 
institution,  or  whether  separate  institutions  shall  be  provided 
for  the  different  lines  of  preparation.  What  shall  be  the  relation, 
then,  between  the  university,  the  college  and  the  technical 
school?  The  problem  has  been  stated  as  follows:2 

"  There  formerly  existed  among  the  members  of  the  [engineering] 
profession  a  strong  impression,  one  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  has 
some  justification  in  the  experience  of  the  past,  throughout  the  world, 
that  a  technical  school  cannot  be  made  to  succeed,  fully  and  satisfac- 
torily, as  a  part  of  an  organization  including  academic  schools  ;  but 

1The  term  "  higher  education  "  is  here  used  with  its  common^  sig- 
nification in  the  United  States.  In  Germany,  as  before  noted,  it  has 
quite  a  different  meaning. 

2  Organization  of  Engineering  Courses,  by  R.  H.  Thurston. 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  55 

that  in  the  presence  of  these  apparently  conflictingintereststhe  school 
of  engineering  must  suffer,  if  not  absolutely  fail.  This  conviction  was 
expressed  very  strongly  by  President  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  and  still  more 
strongly  by  the  German  educator,  Professor  Reuleaux,  the  head  of 
the  great  technical  university  at  Berlin,  and  who  is  by  many  regarded 
as  the  leader  in  the  profession  in  Europe.  In  his  address  entitled 
"Cultur  und  Technik,"  he  says  that  'notwithstanding  their  in- 
tended pursuit  of  a  strictly  scientific  aim,  the  technical  schools  have 
not  concluded  their  peace  with  the  universities.  Even  with  the  best 
of  good  will,  none  of  our  efforts  toward  a  real  amalgamation  of  the 
two  has  ever  been  successful.'  He  quotes  Professor  Koechly,  who 
says:  'And  if  not  side  by  side,  at  least  we  can  fight  back  to  back,'  in 
the  great  contest  with  ignorance,  and  he  considers  this  unfortunate 
difference  as  arising  from  inherent  differences  in  aim,  and  goes  on  to 
say  that  a  blending  of  the  two  movements  has  been  tried  in  the  United 
States,  our  universities  being  both  classic  and  technic,  but  that  '  the 
experiences  hitherto  gathered  have  not  shown,  so  far  as  observa- 
tion permits  a  judgment,  that  the  union  can  be  permanently  main- 
tained, or  that  it  has  furthered  the  interests  of  education  in  the  way 
that  legislators  had  anticipated.'  " 

Universities  were  the  product  of  scholasticism.1  They  were 
not  created  but  just  grew.  Laurie  distinguishes  three  classes: 
first,  Those  which  were  authorized  by  the  Pope;  second,  Those 
which  were  authorized  by  the  Emperor,  or  ruling  state  au- 
thority; third,  Those  which  had  a  double  investiture  from  both 
the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  power.  But  the  official  recognition 
followed  only  when  the  institution  was  an  established  fact,  and 
is  not  to  be  regarded  as  an  indispensable  prerequisite,  as  it  is 
to-day.  The  word  '  universitas '  itself  meant  in  the  charters 
simply  a  corporation.  The  title  originally  given  to  the  teach- 
ing body,  having  reference  to  its  teaching  functions,  was  that 
of  '  studium  generale.'  The  universities  gradually  differen- 
tiated themselves  into  the  faculties  of  law,  medicine,  theology 
and  philosophy.  In  the  earlier  universities  the  faculty  of 
philosophy  was  simply  a  preparatory  school  for  the  later  pro- 
fessional studies  of  jurisprudence,  medicine  and  theology.2  At 
this  time  these  studies  fully  covered  the  field  of  human  knowledge 
and  interest.  As  Dr.  Thurston  says: 

In  our  country  we  are  developing  a  better  method  of  providing  for 
all  classes  all  needed  forms  of  education  and  training,  the  real  univer- 
sity in  which  for  the  first  time  since  Ptolemy  Soter  and  his  for  his 
time  true  university,  a  grander  ideal  than  was  held  by  any  older 
philosophers,  educators,  or  statesmen  simply  because  of  the  fact  that 
modern  life  gives  a  familiarity  with  a  broader  pantology  and  more 
perfect  form  of  university.  Our  State  colleges  and  universities  are 
disproving  the  assertions  of  early,  timid,  or  hostile  educators,  and  are 
offering,  even  in  one  institution,  the  whole  range  of  the  pure  and  ap- 

1  See  L/aurie,  Rise  and  Early  Constitution  of  Universities  ;  Compayre* 
Abelard  ;  Rashdall,  Universities  of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages  ;  Paul- 
sen,  German  Universities  ;  and  Denifle's  great  work. 

2Thurot:  ^'Organisation  de  1'enseignment  dans  1'Univ.  de  Paris, 
etc. 


56  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

• 

plied  sciences,  all  the  literatures,  and  all  the  technical  departments  of 
study,  and  even  the  systematic  development  of  highest  practice. 

The  higher  technical  education  of  Germany  which  has  com- 
manded the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the  world  has  been  or- 
ganized on  the  plan  of  separate  schools.  Such  is,  indeed,  the 
"  plan  followed  in  France  and  England,  with  a  large  degree  of 
thoroughness  and  success.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  at  any  rate, 
that  we  have  in  the  United  States  attempted  a  new  solution  of 
this  problem,  and  in  such  institutions  as  Cornell  University 
and  some  of  the  great  state  universities  have  worked  out  with 
considerable  success  the  idea  of  an  "  institution  where  any  per- 
son can  find  instruction  in  any  study." 

The  word  '  college '  signified  originally  a  body  of  persons 
associated  together  for  the  purpose  of  performing  common 
functions,  that  is  to  say,  a  body  of  colleagues.  Among  the 
Romans,  there  were  colleges  of  augurs,  of  pontiffs,  of  tri- 
bunes, and  of  artisans.  In  mediaeval  and  modern  times,  the 
term  has  been  applied  to  similar  bodies  quite  dissimilar  in  their 
purposes.  Thus  it  has  become  common  to  speak  of  the  college 
of  bishops,  college  of  cardinals,  and  the  college  of  presidential 
electors.  As  educational  institutions  the  colleges  followed  the 
universities.  The  intellectual  movement  which  led  to  the 
foundation  of  universities,  and  particularly  the  period  covered 
by  the  i3th  century,  forms  one  of  the  most  romantic  periods  in 
the  history  of  the  human  intellect.  '  'A  light  had  shone  on 
youths  who  sat  in  the  shadow  of  feudal  servitude. " 1  Indeed, 
this  period  has  been  called  the  mediaeval  renaissance.  Students 
crowded  to  the  new  seats  of  learning  in  throngs  no  doubt 
exaggerated  by  fable,  but  which  were  in  reality  sufficiently  re- 
markable. There  may  not  have  been  thirty  thousand  students 
at  Oxford  before  the  end  of  the  i3th  century  as  it  is  said  there 
were,  but  the  throng  was  great  enough  to  crowd  the  little  city 
to  its  utmost  capacity.  To  Paris  and  other  universities  students 
came  from  all  the  world,  for  the  university  was  in  no  sense  a 
local  or  a  provincial  institution.  "All  the  universities  belonged, 
not  to  one  nation,  but  to  Latin  Christendom,  the  educated  popu- 
lation of  which  circulated  among  them.  Of  all  the  universities 
alike,  ecclesiastical  Latin  was  the  language."  From  this  con- 
gress of  scholars  the  colleges  arose  through  the  association  to- 
gether of  those  who  had  common  ends,  or  generally,  at  the 
outset,  of  those  who  came  from  the  same  section  of  the  world. 

Thus  the  colleges  were  at  first  bodies  organized  on  geograph- 
ical lines.  In  Germany  and  Italy  the  term  '  collegium  '  did 
not  as  in  England  come  to  be  applied  to  institutions  or  cor- 

1  Gold  win  Smith,  in  his  delightful  little  book  on  "  Oxford  and  Her 
Colleges." 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  57 

porations,  but  only  to  associations  of  scholars  coming  together 
simply  in  a  voluntary  capacity,  thus  retaining  the  original  sig- 
nificance of  the  word.  As  time  passed  on,  the  aggregation  of 
students  in  buildings  where  they  could  at  once  advance  their 
common  interests  and  receive  protection  in  their  common  and 
personal  rights  was  encouraged  by  princes  and  bishops  as 
well  as  by  private  benefactors.  The  college  in  England  has 
come  to  be  not  so  much  an  institution  for  teaching  as  one  for 
furnishing  for  students  a  residence  where  they  will  be  sur- 
rounded with  the  most  encouraging  and  inspiring  opportuni- 
ties. Thus  England  has  preserved  the  college  organization, 
but  the  college  is  not  a  degree  conferring  body,  that  function 
being  reserved  to  the  university. 

In  the  United  States  the  college  was  the  first  institution  of 
higher  education  to  be  established,  and  the  first  college,  Har- 
vard, was  modelled  directly  after  Emanuel  College  at  Cam- 
bridge. The  next  earliest  colleges,  William  and  Mary  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  Yale  in  Connecticut,  imitated  Harvard,  and  their 
example  was  followed  by  the  colleges  established  during  the 
next  century  and  a  half.  But  the  American  college  was  a  dis- 
tinct, complete  educational  institution,  conferring  degrees,  and, 
therefore,  has  no  exact  counterpart  in  England  or  on  the  con- 
tinent. In  France  and  Germany,  indeed,  the  term  college  has 
lost  its  original  signification.  In  Germany  it  is  not  preserved 
at  all,  and  in  France,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is  generally  applied 
to  secondary  schools. 

The  distinctive  development  of  the  college  in  modern  times 
finds  its  place  in  our  own  country.  What  it  is  here  every  one 
knows,  but  only  the  rashest  of  men  would  attempt  to  formu- 
late. The  following  definition  is  probably  as  adequate  as  any 
that  can  be  given: 

By  college  I  mean  in  this  paper  an  institution  for  academic  instruc- 
tion based  upon  the  secondary  schools.  To  secure  unquestioned  rec- 
ognition a  college  must  have  in  my  judgment  at  least  these  things  : 
(i)  Respectable  requirements  for  entrance  to  the  Freshman  class  ;  (2) 
courses  of  study  well  arranged,  four  years  long,  and  embracing  Latin, 
Greek,  French,  German,  English,  mathematics,  history,  political 
economy,  philosophy,  physics,  chemistry,  and  biology;  (3)  at  least 
eight  good  instructors  who  devote  their  whole  time  to  teaching  in 
the  Freshman  or  the  higher  classes  the  subjects  named  above  ;  (4)  a 
good  library  and  suitable  buildings,  including  three  laboratories  well 
equipped,  at  least  for  undergraduate  work,  in  the  sciences  named 
above  ;  (5)  income  enough  to  maintain  well  the  instruction  and  the 
equipment.1 

The  definition  is  then  modified  by  these  questions: 

1  President  R.  H.  Jesse,  in  Proceedings  of  the  North  Central  Asso- 
ciation of  Colleges  and  Preparatory  Schools,  School  Review,  Vol.  IV, 
p.  274. 


58  THE   PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

1.  Are  eight  teachers  indispensable? 

2.  Would  it  not  be  possible  to  omit  political  economy,  teach  history 
with  the  languages,  and  confine  science  to  physics  and  chemistry? 

3.  Is  a  college  to  lose  its  title  because  it  maintains  a  preparatory 
department? 

4.  How  much  endowment  and  income  are  necessary? 

5.  What  are  respectable  requirements  for  admission  ? 

6.  May  not  other  subjects  be  taught  ? 

The  questions  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Regents  of 
the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York  will  not  license  a  col- 
lege that  supports  a  preparatory  department  or  that  has  courses 
of  study  less  than  four  years  long,  or  that  owns  less  than  $500,- 
ooo  worth  of  property.  In  Michigan  the  requirement  is  $50,000, 
and  in  Ohio  and  Nebraska,  $5,000.  In  other  States  apparently 
no  guarantee  whatever  is  required. 

President  Schaeffer,  of  the  Iowa  State  University,  in  the 
same  discussion  says:  "  In  the  State  of  Iowa,  in  accordance 
with  the  terms  of  the  law,  '  any  number  of  people  may  associate 
themselves  and  become  incorporated  for  the  establishment  of 
seminaries  of  learning.'  '  Corporations  of  an  academical  char- 
acter are  invested  with  authority  to  confer  the  degrees  usually 
conferred  by  such  institutions.'  In  other  words,  three  of  the 
janitors  at  our  university  at  an  expense  of  the  fee  for  record- 
ing may  found  a  university  of  their  own,  and  may  confer  de- 
grees upon  anybody."  No  State,  except  New  York,  appar- 
ently exercises  any  effective  supervision  over  its  private  and 
denominational  schools  and  colleges.  In  1893  the  Regents  of 
the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York  took  their  charters 
from  several  feeble  colleges  and  put  two  more  on  probation. 
This  was  good  work  for  a  single  year,  but  it  has  been  steadily 
followed  up  since.  Several  colleges  have  transformed  them- 
selves from  venerable  but  preposterous  college  humbugs  into 
respectable  academies  under  the  stimulating  influence  of  the 
regents. 

Quite  certain  is  it  that  as  yet  we  cannot,  in  this  country,  de- 
fine the  college  and  the  university  as  separate  institutions. 
Speaking  generally  they  are  not  separate;  the  college  is  one 
part  of  the  university.  In  the  minds  of  the  public  an  institu- 
tion is  whatever  it  calls  itself. 

XII. 

THE  ARTICULATION  OF  THE  SECONDARY  WITH  THE 
HIGHER  SCHOOLS. 

Some  competent  body  must  determine  whether  pupils  are 
ready  to  enter  upon  higher  education,  whether  it  be  in  college 
or  university.  Here  arises  the  broad  general  question  as  to 
whether  this  determination  shall  be  made  by  the  school  that 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  59 

the  student  is  leaving  or  by  some  authority  outside  of  this 
school.  If  the  latter  view  is  adopted,  it  makes  little  difference 
whether  the  outside  authority  be  the  school  that  the  student  is 
entering  or  a  board  of  examiners.  Germany  solves  the  ques- 
tion by  making  the  certificate  of  the  completion  of  the  sec- 
ondary school  the  full  credential  for  admission  to  higher  study. 
The  student  passes  his  examination  in  the  Gymnasium,  Real- 
gymnasium,  or  Realschule,  receives  his  certificate,  and,  fortified 
with  that  certificate,  may  enter  any  school  in  the  state  of  the 
class  for  which  his  training  has  been  fitting  him.  Such  things 
as  entrance  examinations  to  universities  and  technical  schools 
are  unknown.  In  France  the  examinations  for  the  bacca- 
laureat  which  mark  the  completion  of  the  secondary  school 
system  are  conducted  by  Boards  of  Examiners  who  are  state 
officials,  but  are  not  representatives  of  the  institution  which 
the  student  aims  to  enter.  In  England  everything  is  made  de- 
pendent upon  the  passing  of  entrance  examinations  which  are 
set  by  the  authorities  at  the  several  institutions.  In  these  three 
countries,  however,  secondary  education  has  never  been  con- 
ceived of  as  being  the  privilege  of  the  masses,  but  as  a  special 
training  reserved  for  the  select  few.  Such  differentiation  as  may 
be  needed  in  these  few  is  provided  for  either  at  the  beginning 
or  at  some  period  during  the  secondary  school  course. 

In  earlier  times  in  the  United  States  the  English  model  was 
copied  fully.  At  the  present  time  only  a  few  institutions  pre- 
serve completely  the  system  of  entrance  examinations,  but 
these  few  are  among  the  most  influential.  The  West,  in  large 
measure  through  the  influence  of  the  University  of  Michigan, 
has  developed  a  system  based  upon  the  German  plan,  but 
which  has  many  unique  features  of  its  own.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  "University  of  Michigan"  was  the  name 
given  by  the  charter  of  1817  to  the  whole  system  of  public  or 
state  instruction  as  the  same  should  be  organized  in  the  terri- 
tory of  Michigan,  the  model  of  the  proposed  university  having 
been  apparently  the  University  of  France.  A  second  charter 
passed  in  1821  repealed  the  earlier  one,  but  still  retained  the 
French  idea.  The  constitution  of  1835  based  the  school  system 
on  so-called  Prussian  ideas,  but  the  charter  of  1837,  enacted 
under  the  state  constitution,  shows  new  traces  of  the  French 
influence.  This  charter  directed  the  Board  of  Regents  to  es- 
tablish branches  of  the  university  in  different  parts  of  the 
state,  but  these  branches  should  not  confer  degrees.  Several 
such  branches  were  established  and  became  important  feeders 
to'  the  university.  Moreover,  they  hastened  the  establishment 
of  the  public  high  schools  which  took  their  place.  When  these 
branches  had  been  cut  away  no  vital  relation  remained  between 
the  university  and  the  other  schools  of  the  state  any  more  than 


60  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

in  any  other  state.  But  in  1869  and  1870  Dr.  Frieze,  then  act- 
ing president,  made  a  practical  suggestion  embodying  a  fruit- 
ful way  of  carrying  out  the  Prussian  ideas  and  raising  the 
high  schools  of  the  state  to  the  rank  of  real  gymnasia.  In  his 
report  for  the  year  Dr.  Frieze  states  that  his  plan  had  been 
carried  out  and  the  results  that  he  expected  to  follow  are 
outlined  as  follows: 

"  The  effect  of  this  plan  of  annual  examination,  which,  of  course,  is 
to  be  matured  and  perfected  by  experience,  will  be  to  stimulate  the 
schools  to  a  higher  grade,  and  bring  them  to  a  more  perfect  uniformity 
of  preparation,  and  thus  make  it  possible  to  elevate  the  scholarship 
in  the  lower  classes  in  the  university.  But  more  than  this,  it  creates  at 
once  a  reciprocal  interest  between  the  schools  and  the  university,  and 
also  wins  for  the  university  a  livelier  interest  on  the  part  of  the  citi- 
zens whose  schools  are  brought  into  such  close  connection  with  the  in- 
stitution  The  principle  of  this  movement  is  obvious.  We  go 

back  to  the  schools  and  aid  their  instructors  in  devising  correct  plans 
and  laying  solid  foundations  of  scholarship,  instead  of  waiting  until 
pupils  present  themselves  at  the  university  prepared  under  dissimilar 
and  perhaps  erroneous  systems,  often  imperfectly  prepared,  and  some- 
times rejected  for  deficiencies  which  could  have  been  obviated  by  this 
previous  interchange  of  views  between  the  faculty  and  the  preparatory 
teachers." 

What  the  university  really  does  now  is  to  send  a  commission 
to  examine  schools  and  approve  such  as  are  deemed  worthy  for 
periods  of  from  one  to  three  years.  When  a  school  is  accredited, 
the  student  who  comes  to  the  university  properly  certificated  is 
admitted  at  once.  Dr.  Hinsdale  states  the  results  as  follows:1 

Schools  have  been  stimulated  to  a  higher  grade  of  work,  prepara- 
tion for  the  university  been  made  more  uniform,  scholarship  in  the 
lower  classes  elevated,  closer  reciprocal  interest  between  schools  and 
the  university  been  created  and  a  livelier  interest  in  the  university 
awakened  in  the  public  mind.  The  schools  receive  from  the  univer- 
sity the  most  practical  and  useful  report  on  their  work  that  it  is  pos- 
sible for  them  to  receive.  The  Board  of  Education  find  great  interest 
in  visitations  and  find  them  very  helpful.  The  faculty  renews  its  ac- 
quaintance with  the  schools  in  the  most  practical  and  direct  of  ways 
so  that  the  faculty  discussions  and  decisions  on  many  subjects  are 
guided  in  no  small  degree  by  the  observations  of  the  professors  in  the 
schools.  Much  of  the  information  needed  on  both  sides  can  be  ac- 
quired in  other  ways,  but  in  no  other  ways  can  it  be  made  so  real, 
practical  and  useful  as  in  this  way.  The  system,  it  may  be  said,  is 
extended  far  beyond  the  state  and  to  private  schools  and  academies  as 
well  as  high  schools.  The  standards  of  many  of  these  schools  have 
been  raised,  their  methods  of  teaching  improved,  their  apparatus  and 
libraries  augmented  and  their  tone  elevated  by  being  brought  into 
diplomal  relations.  The  most  serious  weakness  of  the  system  is  the 
tendency  to  undue  expansion,  and  the  amount  of  examining  to  be 
done  tends  to  outgrow  the  ability  of  the  faculty  to  do  the  work  as  it 
should  be  done. 

*B.  A.  Hinsdale  :  The  Michigan  System  (in  Proceedings  of  the  North 
Central  Association  of  Colleges  and  Preparatory  Schools  for  1896). 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  6 1 

Admission  to  college  by  examinations  set  by  the  college  it- 
self is  too  well  understood  to  require  explanation.  The  chief 
arguments  advanced  by  the  adherents  of  this  system  are  the 
following:1 

Entrance  examinations  furnish  in  themselves  most  valuable 
educational  discipline.  Entrance  examinations  as  conducted 
by  the  leading  institutions  of  the  country  are  an  adequate  and 
satisfactory  means  of  determining  the  qualifications  of  candi- 
dates, and,  under  existing  circumstances,  are  the  safest  and 
most  satisfactory  means  we  possess.  Conditions  of  secondary 
education  are  most  varied,  and  colleges  drawing  from  large 
areas  have  no  uniform  standard  of  excellence  in  preparatory 
schools  to  depend  upon.  By  entrance  examinations  one  stan- 
dard is  applied  to  all  candidates  for  admission,  and  it  is  fairly 
certain  that  all  successful  candidates  have  met  a  fixed  minimum 
requirement.  The  standards  for  admission  to  college  are  largely 
maintained  by  entrance  examinations.  The  varying  standards 
of  admission  requirements  are  measured  chiefly  by  the  require- 
ments of  the  older  institutions  in  the  East  which  have  steadily 
maintained  entrance  examinations,  and  by  means  of  entrance 
examinations  have  raised  the  standard  of  admission  to  college 
for  the  entire  country.  The  institutions  that  admit  by  certificate 
have  neither  set,  nor  do  they  at  present  maintain  a  standard 
for  the  country  at  large.  Many  of  the  best  secondary  teachers 
feel  that  far  more  credit  comes  to  them  and  to  their  schools  from 
their  students'  success  in  meeting  a  uniform  test  of  examina- 
tions than  comes  from  permission  to  send  pupils  to  college 
without  examinations.  The  success  of  pupils  on  entrance  ex- 
aminations is  the  current  stamp  of  approval  on  the  teacher's 
work  that  the  teachers  value  highly. 

Such  in  brief  are  the  arguments  in  favor  of  the  examination. 
Under  present  conditions  it  is  impossible  for  any  college  or  uni- 
versity to  inspect  all  the  schools  that  send  pupils  to  it,  and, 
therefore,  those  which  have  the  diploma  system  still  retain  the 
examination  system  for  those  students  who  come  from  other 
than  accredited  schools. 

A  very  important  modification  of  the  entrance  examination 
system  is  shown  in  the  methods  of  the  College  Entrance  Ex- 
amination Board  established  by  the  Association  of  Colleges  and 
Preparatory  Schools  of  the  Middle  States  and  Maryland.  This 
board  conducts,  at  numerous  convenient  centers  on  the  same 
date,  examinations  in  all  subjects  that  are  accepted  for  admis- 
sion to  college.  These  examinations  are  recognized  by  a  large 

1  Clifford  H.  Moore:  The  Examination  System,  in  Proceedings  of  the 
North  Central  Association  of  Colleges  and  Preparatory  Schools,  1896  ; 
also  printed  in  the  School  Review,  Vol.  IV. 


62  THK   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

number  of  colleges  and  universities,  and  the  student  who 
passes  them  successfully  finds  many  doors  open  to  him.  The 
papers  are  made  out  and  read  by  examiners  and  readers  selected 
from  the  teaching  force  of  the  institutions  belonging  to  the  as- 
sociation. Uniform  admission  requirements  are  thus  maintained 
for  all  institutions  that  accept  the  work  of  the  board.  The  first 
examinations  under  the  system  were  held  in  June,  1901.  This 
board  must  at  present  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  signifi- 
cant factors  in  working  out  the  great  problem  of  the  mutual 
relations  of  the  secondary  and  the  higher  schools.1 

The  University  of  the  State  of  New  York  is  a  unique  educa- 
tional organization  worthy  of  careful  study  since  its  history 
and  development  illustrate  some  of  the  most  notable  features 
in  all  educational  development.2  In  January,  1784,  two  months 
after  the  British  left  New  York,  Governor  George  Clinton  sent 
his  message  to  the  legislature  in  which  is  found  the  first  pub- 
lic expression  of  the  need  of  better  educational  institutions. 
His  words  are  these:  "  Neglect  of  the  education  of  youth  is 
among  the  evils  consequent  on  war.  Perhaps  there  is  scarce 
anything  more  worthy  your  attention  than  the  revival  and  en- 
couragement of  seminaries  of  learning. ' '  A  movement  was  at 
once  started,  and  James  Duane  presented  a  bill  entitled,  "An 
Act  for  establishing  a  University  within  this  State. ' '  The  friends 
of  King's  College,  which  had  been  suspended  during  the  Revo- 
lution, captured  the  movement  started  to  establish  a  univer- 
sity, and  the  title  was  amended  to  read  "An  Act  for  granting 
certain  privileges  to  the  college  heretofore  called  King's  Col- 
lege for  the  name  and  charter  thereof,  and  erecting  an  Univer- 
sity within  this  State."  Thus  the  influence  of  the  old  univer- 
sity was  to  be  dominant  in  the  new  regime,  and  laws  passed 
May  ist,  1784,  made  a  body  of  men  who  were  virtually  trus- 
tees of  Columbia  College  autocrats  in  the  whole  educational 
system  of  the  state.  This  was  also  the  law  which  changed  the 
name  of  King's  College  to  Columbia.  Columbia  captured  the 
Board  of  Regents,  and  for  three  years  controlled  their  actions. 
Opposition  soon  developed  to  this  preponderating  influence  of 
Columbia.  One  of  the  lines  of  opposition  was  directed  to  the 
preponderance  of  a  distinctively  church  college  in  state  educa- 
tional affairs.  In  1787  a  new  law  was  passed  which  remains 
substantially  the  basis  of  the  regent  system. 

The  effects  of  the  law,  without  going  into  detail,  were  that  it 

1  For  the  history  of  this  movement  see  Proceedings  of  the  Associa- 
tion of  Colleges  and  Preparatory  Schools  of  the  Middle  States  and 
Maryland,  1898,  1899,  1900. 

2  See  for  full  account,  Sidney  Sherwood,  Regents  Bulletin,  No.  n, 
Jan.,  1893,  on  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  Origin,  History 
and  Present  Organization. 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  63 

lessened  theoretically  the  rigor  of  state  control  of  the  system 
by  emancipating  the  colleges  from  the  actual  government  of 
the  regents  while  it  practically  widened  the  scope  of  this  state 
control  by  emancipating  the  regents  from  the  monopolizing 
control  of  Columbia.  An  interesting  detail  of  this  act  is  found 
in  the  provision  in  regard  to  incorporated  academies,  limiting 
their  income  to  the  value  of  four  thousand  bushels  of  wheat. 
The  whole  educational  work,  including  the  common  schools  of 
the  state,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  university.  It  is  to 
be  noted  also  that  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  State  of  New 
York  did  not  resemble  the  regents  of  the  English  universities, 
and  that  the  whole  idea  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New 
York  was  essentially  a  pattern  to  the  University  of  France. 
This  New  York  organization  has  undoubtedly  been  the  model 
for  many  western  states,  so  that  we  see  a  great  line  of  apparent 
French  influence  upon  our  own  educational  system. 

It  may  be  said  that  Napoleon  did  not  constitute  the  Univer- 
sity of  France  until  nearly  twenty  years  after  the  organization 
of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  but  plans  for  the 
reorganization  of  education  had  been  rife  in  France  since  the 
days  of  the  Encyclopedists.  Ever  since  1762,  indeed,  France 
had  been  flooded  with  writings  upon  this  subject.  At  the  time 
of  the  Revolution,  as  we  have  seen,  Talleyrand,  Condorcet, 
Mirabeau  and  others  presented  reports  and  plans  upon  the 
subject  of  national  education.  All  French  ideas  passed  readily 
to  the  New  World.  There  was,  no  doubt,  reciprocal  influence 
from  the  New  World  upon  the  Old.  "  France  may  claim  to 
have  given  New  York  the  symmetrical  state  system  of  secular 
learning.  New. York  may  claim  to  have  given  France  the  prac- 
tical form  of  such  a  system  in  its  great,  all-inclusive  university 
corporation."  So  far  as  the  form  is  concerned,  then,  the  Uni- 
versity of  France  is  indebted  to  the  University  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  This  body  has  now  a  dominating  influence  upon 
secondary  education  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Supervision 
of  the  common  schools  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  State 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  many  years  ago 

The  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York  now 
have  a  large  and  competent  staff  devoting  their  time  entirely 
to  the  inspection  of  schools  and  the  conducting  of  examina- 
tions. These  inspectors  visit  all  the  high  schools  and  acade- 
mies of  the  state  regularly,  and  upon  their  report  and  upon  the 
results  of  the  examinations  held  depends  the  st  te  allotment  of 
money.  The  regents'  examinations  are  held  in  all  the  high 
schools  and  academies  of  the  state,  the  questions  being  uni- 
form, prepared  by  the  department,  but  the  examinations  are 
conducted  by  the  teachers.  The  papers,  after  being  read  by  the 
teachers,  are  sent  to  Albany  for  rereading  and  regrading.  The 


64  THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

total  number  of  papers  read  is  enormous.  An  academic  syllabus 
is  regularly  issued,  the  purpose  of  which  is  stated  as  follows: 

"This  detailed  syllabus  was  prepared  to  indicate  definitely  the  scope 
and  character  of  the  examinations  in  the  several  subjects.  It  is  hoped 
that  in  this  way  the  diversity  in  preparation  which  arises  from  the  use 
of  different  text-books,  and  from  different  methods  of  instruction,  may 
be  obviated.  It  is  not  designed  to  interfere  with  that  freedom  and 
flexibility  which  ought  to  exist  in  a  system  of  instruction  so  extended 
as  that  conducted  in  the  academies  of  the  state,  but  only  to  specify 
with  such  exactness  as  may  be  practicable  the  subjects  and  the  extent 
in  these  subjects  for  which  the  candidates  in  these  examinations  will 
be  held  responsible.  It  is  understood  that  the  restrictions  laid  down 
in  the  syllabus  are  intended  as  well  for  those  who  prepare  and  issue 
the  questions  as  for  those  who  are  to  be  called  upon  to  answer  them." 

The  credentials  issued  by  the  regents  are  accepted  for  ad- 
mission to  the  colleges  and  universities  in  New  York  State  and 
also  by  many  institutions  outside  the  state.  This  system  of 
examination  is  most  extensive,  thorough  and  systematic,  and, 
doubtless,  has  no  superior  in  the  world. 

The  syllabus  upon  which  the  examinations  are  based  is  re- 
vised every  five  years.  This  revision  takes  place  after  the 
widest  opportunities  are  given  for  consultation  and  suggestion 
on  the  part  of  the  secondary  teachers  of  the  state.  The  sylla- 
bus, as  finally  adopted  and  published,  stands  for  five  years. 
Thus  frequent  and  irrational  changes  are  avoided.  The  schools 
know  for  five  years,  at  least,  exactly  the  work  they  will  be 
called  upon  to  do.  This  is  one  of  the  most  important  features 
of  the  system,  one  which  all  colleges  might  well  copy  in  their 
arrangements  of  entrance  requirements.1 

The  historical  development  of  the  relation  of  colleges  and 
universities  to  secondary  schools  is  such  that  at  the  outset  the 
higher  institutions  not  only  could  mould  the  curriculum  of  the 
lower  institutions,  but  were  expected  so  to  do.  The  secondary 
schools  in  the  early  days  of  this  country  were  grammar  schools 
and  academies  established  in  the  main  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
fitting  pupils  for  college.  Colleges  were  located  in  different 
sections  of  the  country,  each,  to  a  large  extent,  with  its  own 
peculiar  constituency  upon  which  it  was  able  to  stamp  its  seal 
from  the  beginning  of  the  preparatory  course.  There  was  entire 

JThe  subject  of  articulation  between  secondary  and  higher  schools 
embraces  more  than  what  may  be  called  mere  mechanical  means  of 
passing  from  one  system  to  the  other.  The  reports  of  various  institu- 
tions of  higher  learning  contain  most  valuable  information  upon  this 
subject.  The  reports  of  President  Eliot,  of  Harvard  College,  have  for 
several  years  been  notable  in  this  respect;  one  of  particular  value  ap- 
peared in  1898.  The  whole  subject  is  treated  most  interestingly  and 
thoroughly,  also,  in  the  report  of  Dean  Capps,  published  in  the  Presi- 
dent's Report  of  the  University  of  Chicago  for  the  year  ending  July 
ist,  1898. 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  65 

lack  of  any  central  authority  in  higher  education,  and,  for  the  most 
part,  of  state  supervision  of  any  kind.  That  great  disparity  in 
college  courses  should  grow  up  and  be  perpetuated  was  inevi- 
table from  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  So  long  as  different 
sections  of  the  country  remained  isolated  and  college  fitting 
schools  were  called  upon  almost  exclusively  each  to  fit  for  its 
own  special  college  or  university,  little  difficulty  arose;  but  as 
railroads  multiplied,  transportation  became  cheaper  and  travel- 
ling developed  into  a  national  habit,  various  causes  arose  to 
make  this  lack  of  uniformity  a  serious  evil.  Population  was 
no  longer  fairly  fixed  but  roving.  This  roving  feature  of  our  popu- 
lation is  a  unique  characteristic  of  the  United  States.  In  the 
same  city  there  will  congregate  graduates  of  twenty  or  fifty 
different  colleges,  each  of  whom  will  desire  to  send  his  children 
to  his  own  alma  mater;  but  all  these  children,  or  a  large  num- 
ber of  them,  must  be  fitted  for  college  in  the  local  high  school. 
Added  to  this  element  of  complexity  there  is  frequently  a  feel- 
ing that  it  is  good  for  western  boys  to  be  educated  in  the  Kast, 
and,  much  less  frequently,  that  it  is  well  for  eastern  boys  to  be 
educated  in  the  West. 

With  college  entrance  requirements  fixed  and  immovable  and 
varying  enormously,  it  became  a  task  of  almost  superhuman 
difficulty  for  the  high  schools  fo  meet  these  requirements.  The 
private  secondary  schools  have  largely  for  this  reason  taken 
a  position  of  increasing  importance  in  fitting  for  college;  but 
that  college  preparation  should  be  entirely  relegated  to  private 
enterprise  would  certainly  mean  to  deprive  the  high  schools  of 
one  of  the  greatest  incentives  to  scholarly  work  by  which  they 
are  now  affected.  Any  one  who  is  interested  in  seeing  how 
great  the  diversity  of  requirements  was  may  examine  the  tabu- 
lar statement  of  entrance  requirements  to  colleges  and  univer- 
sities of  the  United  States  which  appeared  in  the  School  Review 
for  June,  1896,  and  also  a  statement  published  in  the  Report 
of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  Volume  I, 
1896-97. 

Two  notable  efforts  have  been  made  to  bring  some  uniformity 
out  of  this  confusion.  The  first  is  that  which  resulted  in  the 
Report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten  on  Secondary  School  Studies, 
a  document  now  familiar  to  every  one  engaged  in  the  field  of 
secondary  education.  This  report  presented  certain  model  sec- 
ondary school  curriculums  which  had  been  prepared  by  an 
eminent  body  of  experts.  While  the  special  reports  upon  which 
the  model  curriculums  were  based  have  been  found  of  great 
value,  the  curriculums  themselves  have  not  found  universal 
acceptance,  though  undoubtedly  much  good  influence  has  been 
exerted  by  them  upon  the  schools. 

With  the  primary  purpose  of  securing  the  wider  adoption  of 

5 


66  THE   PRINCIPLES    OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

the  work  of  the  Committee  of  Ten  in  the  schools,  a  committee 
was  appointed  by  the  departments  of  secondary  and  higher  edu- 
cation at  Denver  in  1895,  which  after  four  years  of  work  pre- 
sented its  conclusions  at  the  meeting  of  the  National  Educa- 
tional Association  at  L,os  Angeles  in  1899.  This  committee 
adopted  a  different  plan  from  that  followed  by  the  Committee 
of  Ten.  In  the  first  place,  no  model  curriculum  is  presented. 
The  fundamental  problem  for  this  committee  is  the  formula- 
tion of  courses  of  study  in  each  of  the  several  subjects  of  the 
curriculum  which  shall  be  substantially  equal  in  value,  the 
measure  of  value  being  both  the  quantity  and  quality  of  work 
done.  These  courses  of  study  are  to  constitute  so  many  na- 
tional norms  or  units,  which  shall  be  of  equal  value  every- 
where, and  a  certain  number  of  which,  varying  with  different 
institutions,  shall  constitute  the  requirement  for  admission  to 
the  higher  schools.  Emphasis  is  laid  upon  these  units  rather 
than  upon  the  combinations  that  may  be  made  of  them. 

In  the  terminology  adopted  by  the  committee  the  programme 
of  studies  includes  all  of  the  work  offered  by  the  school,  and  is 
made  up  of  a  certain  number  of  courses  of  study  in  the  indi- 
vidual subjects,  a  course  of  study  being  a  unit.  From  the 
courses  of  study,  a  curriculum  or  several  curriculums  may 
be  made  up  for  different  classes  of  pupils,  or  for  the  individual 
pupil,  a  minimum  fixed  requirement  being  suggested  in  the 
way  of  a  small  amount  of  English  and  mathematics.  No  uni- 
formity in  programme  of  studies  or  in  curriculums  is  aimed  at 
by  the  committee,  these  being  left  for  adjustment  according  to 
local  conditions.  The  assumption  is  made  throughout  the  re- 
port that  a  certain  amount  of  work  rather  than  a  definite  pre- 
scribed kind  of  work  shall  be  the  qualification  for  admission  to 
college,  and  that  all  courses  of  study  of  the  quality  outlined  by 
the  committee  shall  be  regarded  as  good  collateral  for  college 
entrance.  The  principles  of  election  in  secondary  school  work 
and  of  wide  option  in  college  entrance  requirements  are  thus 
fundamental.  Upon  this  basis  it  seems  likely  that  some  degree 
of  uniformity  may  be  introduced  into  our  secondary  education 
and  into  college  entrance  requirements.  Whatever  is  accom- 
plished must  be  by  means  of  mutual  agreement  and  constant 
agitation,  since  in  this  country  we  possess  no  official  means  of 
enforcing  any  views  upon  this  question. 

XIII. 
FINAL  CONSIDERATIONS. 

Whoever  has  had  the  courage  to  read  thus  far  has  doubtless 
found  more  questions  raised  than  answered.  Bauermeister's 
great  work  devotes  some  nine  hundred  pages  to  a  description 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  67 

merely  of  the  organization  of  the  school  systems  of  the  various 
states.  To  Germany  alone  is  given  the  equivalent  of  some  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pages  the  size  of  this.  The  accounts  in  Bauer- 
meister,  however,  are  written  by  natives  of  each  country  that 
is  considered,  and  are,  for  the  most  part,  purely  descriptive, 
nor  are  they  always  easily  intelligible  to  the  foreigner.  Of  com- 
parison between  the  different  systems  there  is  scarcely  a  trace. 
Neglecting  from  necessity  a  multitude  of  interesting  and  im- 
portant details,  I  have  endeavored  to  present  the  chief  features 
of  the  leading  systems  side  by  side,  to  the  end  that  both  funda- 
mental similarities  and  fundamental  differences  might  clearly 
appear.  Certain  basal  questions  eliminate  themselves  from  the 
tangle  of  likenesses  and  unlikenesses  and  present  themselves 
as  problems  whose  solution  is  pressing  not  in  one  country  but 
in  many. 

The  problem  of  problems  is  that  of  the  social  function  of  the 
school.  Is  it  to  aid  in  the  separation  of  society  into  classes  or 
to  become  the  great  social  unifier  ?  The  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion depends  entirely  upon  the  organization  and  conduct  of  the 
schools  themselves.  When  Napoleon  organized  the  lycees  so 
that  they  were  objectionable  to  the  better  classes,  the  lycees 
were  promptly  deserted  by  the  better  classes.  In  England  even 
to-day  the  free  public  schools  are  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
poor  schools.  To  preserve  class  distinctions  no  better  way  has 
as  yet  been  invented  than  a  system  of  free  public  schools  so 
administered  that  only  those  parents  who  are  too  indifferent  to 
care  or  too  needy  to  help  themselves  will  send  their  children  to 
those  schools. 

A  part  of  this  same  problem  is  seen  in  the  struggle  now  going  on 
in  all  the  countries  we  have  considered  to  bring  the  schools  closer 
to  the  needs  of  every  day  life.  Especially  is  this  true  in  the  domain 
of  secondary  education.  What  other  meaning,  for  example,  has 
the  struggle  over  differentiation  in  the  secondary  schools  ?  The 
primacy  of  the  ancient  and  honorable  classical  course  has  not 
yet  been  seriously  shaken  in  France,  or  Germany,  or  England, 
or  the  United  States,  but  other  courses  have  been  widely  in- 
troduced and  are  increasingly  popular.  But  are  the  new  courses 
to  lead  to  equal  privileges  with  the  old,  and  so  to  attract  at- 
tendance from  all  classes  of  the  community,  rich  as  well  as 
poor,  professional,  commercial  and  artisan  ?  If  all  the  courses 
are  placed  under  the  same  roof,  will  the  newer  ones  have  a  fair 
chance  ?  They  did  not  have  in  France.  If  they  are  separated 
in  different  buildings  will  the  preponderance  of  social  desira- 
bility be  in  proportion  to  the  preponderance  of  the  older  disci- 
plines ?  That  has  been  the  case,  certainly,  in  Germany. 

Here  and  there  we  catch  glimpses  of  a  new  factor  to  be 
reckoned  with  in  school  organization,  nothing  more  nor  less 


68  THE  PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOI,  ORGANIZATION. 

than  the  individuality  of  the  child.  The  older  schools  consid- 
ered this  a  negligible  factor,  if  indeed  they  considered  it  at  all. 
To  catch  the  child  young  and  make  of  him  an  adult  of  this  or 
that  pattern,  chiefly  according  to  the  social  ambition  and  finan- 
cial resources  of  the  parent  has  been  the  task  of  the  German 
higher  schools.  Sometimes  they  failed,  but  then  was  it  not 
always  because  of  the  inherent  stupidity  of  the  child  ?  That 
was  the  obvious  explanation.  But  the  fact  that  the  child  has 
a  personality,  an  individuality  of  its  own  is  pressing  for  recog- 
nition. All  men  may  be  born  equal,  but  all  children  are  not. 
This  new  factor  is  not  only  a  contributory  cause  to  all  the 
discussions  about  differentiation  of  courses,  but  it  also  enters 
into  many  of  the  pressing  school  problems  in  ways  unknown 
a  generation  ago. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  spasmodic  habit  of  educational  move- 
ment it  would  be  safe  to  prophesy  that  the  dominant  considera- 
tions in  school  organization  for  the  next  generation  or  so  would 
be  social  adaptation  and  individual  conservation.  But  while  it 
is  possible  in  school  matters  to  point  out  the  tendencies  that 
prevail  at  any  given  minute  it  is  quite  fruitless  to  speculate 
how  far  any  movement  will  carry.  Apparently  the  only  thing 
certain  is  uncertainty.  Scarcely  any  other  great  human  interest 
has  been  so  hysterical  in  its  conduct  as  education.  "  Fads  in 
education  "  is  a  common  form  of  speech,  only  too  well  justified 
by  the  facts.  The  history  of  education  shows  every  extreme  of 
theory  and  practice,  every  form  of  control,  state,  church,  fam- 
ily, community,  successive  or  simultaneous.  The  partisan  spirit 
in  education  is  always  more  or  less  rampant.  The  supply  of 
controversial  questions  never  runs  out. 

I^et  it  not  be  thought,  however,  that  the  schools  are  the  foot- 
ball of  chance.  On  the  one  hand  they  have  to-day  their  full 
share  of  the  best  administrative  talent  of  the  world, — on  the 
other,  in  this  country  and  in  many  others,  they  are  grounded 
firm  on  the  rock  foundations  of  the  peoples  life.  The  amount 
of  grumbling  about  the  school  tax  is  surprisingly  little.  The 
typical  citizen  is  not  the  one  who  growls  about  the  schools  but 
the  one  for  whom  no  sacrifice  is  too  great  to  give  his  children  a 
better  education  than  he  had. 

In  all  fields  of  public  administration  the  great  modern  city  is 
a  perplexing  factor.  Already  the  city  enjoys  as  a  rule  a  large 
measure  of  freedom  from  state  interference  in  educational  as  in 
other  matters.  Owing  to  the  concentration  of  wealth  and  popu- 
lation the  school  conditions  in  the  city  are  not  the  same  as 
those  in  the  rural  community.  Each  section  has  its  own  ad- 
vantages and  disadvantages.  By  combination,  free  transpor- 
tation of  pupils,  and  other  methods  the  country  is  making 
progress  towards  securing  urban  school  advantages.  But  the 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION.  69 

progress  is  slow.  So  far  the  city  has  made  even  slower  progress 
in  removing  the  evils  of  overcrowding  and  unfavorable  environ- 
ment. All  conceivable  evils  in  school  administration  are  bound 
to  develop,  and  to  develop  in  an  aggravated  form  in  the  city. 
They  are  equally  bound  to  be  combated  with  vigor.  The  city 
is  then  the  great  pedagogical  laboratory.1 

Any  great  machine  loses  efficiency  from  friction.  A  great 
school  organization  constantly  confronts  these  deadly  perils, 
that  too  much  energy  will  be  wasted  in  merely  keeping  up  the 
motion,  that  the  greatness  and  complication  of  the  machinery 
will  beget  a  helpless  and  hopeless  wonder  soon  to  merge  in 
worship,  that  the  individual  child,  whose  interests  are  the  sole 
excuse  for  the  organization's  existence,  will  become  too  insig- 
nificant to  be  considered.  Unwieldiness,  idolatry  and  use- 
lessness  are,  then,  the  three  perils  that  school  organization 
must  somehow  or  other  escape.  These  are  the  greatest,  but  by 
no  means  all.  Already  it  is  clearly  recognized  that  in  the  public 
schools  exists  ready  to  the  hand  such  a  tool  for  propaganda  that 
the  temptation  to  use  it  unwisely  has  not  always  been  resist- 
ible. Nor  will  it  be  denied  that  the  political  possibilities  of 
the  schools  have,  in  the  United  States  at  least,  had  ample 
recognition. 

The  political  question  starts  a  train  of  considerations.  In 
the  United  States  the  notion  has  apparently  prevailed  that  the 
schools,  supported  by  taxation,  should  be  divorced  entirely 
from  politics.  We  have  no  cabinet  minister  for  education. 
The  state  superintendent  is,  it  is  true,  frequently  elected  by 
popular  vote  on  a  partisan  ticket,  but  it  is  not  expected  that 
he  will  administer  his  position  on  political  lines,  nor  could  he 
exercise  much  political  influence  if  he  tried  to  do  so.  In  cities 
the  general  theory  is  to  place  the  administration  of  the  schools 
in  the  hands  of  a  non-partisan  board  of  reputable  citizens. 
Ostensibly,  then,  our  schools  are  "out  of  politics."  In  reality 
they  are  very  much  in  politics,  and  certain  to  remain  there. 

Might  it  not  be  better  to  be  honest  in  this  matter  ?  In  those 
countries  we  have  been  considering  where  the  minister  of  edu- 
cation is  a  responsible  member  of  the  ad  ministration,  losing  his 
portfolio  when  the  country  votes  against  the  cabinet  of  which 
he  forms  a  part,  there  is  scarcely  a  trace  of  the  unworthy  sort 
of  political  influence  in  the  schools.  The  only  subject  in 
which  the  American  people  can  apparently  be  counted  on  to 
sustain  a  lively  interest  is  politics.  On  all  political  questions 
is  shed  the  constant  glare  of  publicity.  To  take  any  great 

1 A  very  interesting  and  suggestive  contribution  to  the  problem  of 
city  school  administration  is  the  Report  of  the  Chicago  School  Com- 
mission, 1898. 


70  THE   PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

public  interest  out  of  politics  is  likely  to  put  it  under  condi- 
tions where  strange  things  can  be  done  in  dark  corners.  The 
cloak  of  non-political  respectability  may  hide  a  multitude  of 
sins  that  would  not  bear  the  light. 

Perhaps,  then,  we  need  not  less  politics,  but  more  politics  in 
our  school  affairs.  Granted  that  American  political  life  is  im- 
perfect, we  shall  not  improve  it  by  calling  it  by  another  name. 
We  shall  not  improve  any  great  public  interest  that  possesses 
inherent  and  inevitable  political  possibilities  by  saying  it  does 
not.  We  shall  not  overcome  the  present  normal  apathy  of  the 
American  citizen  on  school  questions  by  removing  these  ques- 
tions yet  further  outside  the  circle  of  his  certain  active  interest. 

In  England,  Germany  and  France  the  schools  are  masculine; 
in  the  United  States  they  are  feminine.  The  condition  in  the 
United  States  to-day  is  this:  women  form  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  teachers,  girls  form  an  overwhelming  majority 
of  the  pupils,  and  mothers  manifest  an  overwhelming  majority 
of  the  total  amount  of  real  interest  taken  in  the  schools.  That 
feminine  influence  will  always  be  strong  in  our  schools  is  as 
certain  as  it  is  desirable.  But  if,  as  is  sometimes  held,  men  are 
really  good  for  something  in  stamping  the  imprint  of  civilized 
attainment  on  the  generation  that  must  be  its  conservator,  then 
it  would  seem  a  pity  that  they  should  be  not  merely  permitted 
but  encouraged  to  keep  hands  off  the  schools.  Ways  and 
means  may  need  devising  for  keeping  the  boys  in  the  schools, 
masters  at  the  desks,  men  in  sympathetic  and  helpful  relations 
to  school  activities,  all  in  reasonable  proportion. 

All  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world  carry  into  the  twentieth 
century  a  great  school  system  in  good  working  order.  The 
invention  has  been  made  and  in  a  measure  perfected.  What 
is  the  task  set  the  new  century?  Comenius,  Pestalozzi, 
Froebel,  Herbart,  their  predecessors  and  disciples,  have  fur- 
nished a  tolerably  adequate  body  of  pedagogical  doctrine.  The 
times  do  not  seem  to  cry  out  for  another  prophet  of  their  stamp. 
The  pathetic  need  is  for  wisdom  and  honesty  to  manage  this 
mightiest  of  social  organizations,  the  public  school;  to  manage 
it  in  such  a  way  that  the  whir  of  the  machinery  will  not  drown 
the  cries  of  a  single  helpless,  tortured  child;  to  manage  it  so 
that  we  may  not  be  awed  by  its  immensity  into  an  idolatrous 
worship  of  its  very  shortcomings;  so  to  manage  it  that  it  shall 
not  be  a  propaganda  shop  for  "fads"  or  "isms"  or  "ologies" 
or  pseudo-science;  so  to  manage  it  that  it  shall  draw  ever 
nearer  the  hearts  and  lives  of  the  people;  so  to  direct  it  that  it 
may  always  be  aware  of  its  ideals,  alert  to  its  opportunities 
the  servant  of  an  ever  higher  civilization.  This  is  a  task 
worthy  of  the  giants  that  shall  appear. 


THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION.  71 

XIV. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Since  the  study  presented  in  these  pages  is  in  large  measure 
concerned  with  present  conditions,  much  of  the  material  for  it 
has  been  found  in  current  publications  of  a  more  or  less  fugitive 
character, while  the  writer's  personal  experience  and  observa- 
tion have  contributed  no  small  share.  Frequent  references  to 
sources  are  given  in  the  body  of  the  text.  In  addition  there  is 
here  presented  a  brief  list  which  includes  those  works  of  a  gen- 
erally descriptive  character  which  are  most  apt  to  be  accessible, 
in  addition  to  the  standard  works  of  reference  of  encyclopaedic 
order.  The  primary  sources  for  investigating  any  school 
system  are,  of  course,  the  various  official  publications,  laws, 
decrees,  programmes,  manuals  and  the  like.  Their  name  is 
legion,  but  they  are  not  included  in  this  list. 

General. 

1.  Deutsche  Zeitschrift  furauslandischesUnterrichtswesen.  Leipzig. 

2.  School  Review.     Chicago. 

3.  Educational  Review.     New  York. 

4.  Revue  Internationale  de  1'Bnseignment.     Paris. 

5.  Baumeister.     Handbuch   der   Krziehungs   und    Unterrichtslehre 

fiir  hohere  Schulen,  4  vols.     Munich,  1897. 

6.  Encyclopadisches  Handbuch  der  Padagogik.     Langensalza,  com- 

pleted, 1899. 

7.  Statesman's  Year  Book.     Annual.     London. 

8.  Minerva.     Jahrbuch   der   Gelehrten   Welt.    Annual,    loth   Vol., 

1900-1.     Strasburg. 

9.  Annual  Reports  of  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education. 

10.  Buisson.     Dictionnaire  de  Pedagogic.     Paris,  1887. 

11.  American  Journal  of  Education.     Edited  by  Henry  Barnard. 

12.  Pedagogical  Seminary. 

United  States. 

1.  Proceedings  of  the  National  Educational  Association.     Annual. 

2.  Proceedings  of  the  New   England  Association  of   Colleges  and 

Preparatory  Schools.     Annual. 

3.  Proceedings   of    the   Association   of    Colleges    and    Preparatory 

Schools  of  the  Middle  States  and  Maryland.     Annual. 

4.  Proceedings  of  the  North  Central  Association  of  Colleges  and 

Secondary  Schools.     Annual. 

5.  Proceedings  of  the  Southern  Association  of  Colleges  and  Prepara- 

tory Schools.     Annual. 

6.  Regents  Bulletins,  published  by  the  University  of  the  State  of 

New  York. 

7.  Annual  Reports  of  the  Superintendents  of  Schools  of  the  several 

states  and  of  the  more  important  cities. 

8.  Evolution  of  the  Massachusetts  Public  School  System.     G.  H. 

Martin. 

9.  Horace  Mann  and  the  Common  School   Revival  in  the  United 

States,  B.  A.  Hinsdale. 

10.     Contributions  to  American  Educational  History,  edited  by  Her- 
bert B.  Adams,  published  by  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education. 


72  THE   PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL   ORGANIZATION. 

ir.  Special  Reports  (published  by  the  National  Educational  Associa- 
tion) on  Secondary  Schools,  on  City  Schools,  on  Rural  Schools, 
on  College  Entrance  Requirements. 

12.  Education  in  the  United  States,  by  Richard  G.  Boone.  New 
York,  1890. 

England. 

1.  The  Public  Schools  Year  Book. 

2.  Whitaker's  Almanac. 

3.  Hazell's  Annual. 

4.  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  Secondary  Education.   9  vols. 

1895. 

5.  Studies  in  Secondary  Education.  A.  H.  D.  Ackland  and  L.  Smith, 

with  introduction  by  James  Bryce.     London,  1892. 

6.  English  Education,  Isaac  Sharpless.     New  York,  1892. 

7.  Thomas  and  Matthew  Arnold  and  Their  Influence  on  English 

Education,  Sir  Joshua  Fitch.     New  York,  1897. 

8.  The  Educational  Systems  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  Graham 

Balfour.     Oxford,  1898. 

9.  English  National  Education.  A  sketch  of  the  Rise  of  Public  Ele- 

mentary Schools  in  England,  H.  H.  Holman.  London,  1898. 
10.     Report  of  the  Schools  Inquiry  Commission,  21  vols.     London, 
1868-9. 

Germany. 

1.  Prussian  Schools  Through  American  Eyes,  James  Russell  Par- 

sons, Jr.     Syracuse,  1891. 

2.  German  Higher  Schools,  The  History,  Organization  and  Methods 

of  Secondary  Education  in  Germany,  James  E.  Russell.    New 
York,  1899. 

3.  Deutschlands  hoheres  Schulwesen  im  neunzehnten  Jahrhundert, 

Conrad  Rethwisch.     Berlin,  1893. 

4.  Verhandlungen  iiber  Fragen  des  hoheren  Unterrichts.     Berlin, 

1891. 

5.  Geschichte  des  gelehrten  Unterrichts,  Friedrich  Paulsen. 

6.  Das  hohere  Schulwesen  in  Preussen,  L.  Wiese. 

7.  Higher  Schools  and  Universities  in  Germany,  Matthew  Arnold. 

London,  1882. 

8.  The  Common   School  System  of  Germany,  Levi  Seeley.     New 

York,  1896. 

France. 

1.  French  Schools  Through  American  Eyes,  James  Russell  Parsons, 

Jr.     Syracuse,  1892. 

2.  Education  from  a  National  Standpoint,  Alfred   Fouille'e.     Trans- 

lated by  W.  J.  Greenstreet.     New  York,  1892. 

3.  Histoire  Critique  des  Doctrines  de  1' Education  en  France,  depuis 

le  seizietne  siecle,  Gabriel  Compayre".     2  vols.     Paris,  1879. 

4.  Education  et  Instruction,  Oct.  Gr^ard.    4.  vols.     Paris,  1889. 

5.  A  French  Eton,  Matthew  Arnold.     London,  1892. 


• 


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